How Would You Live Then?
by: Mary Oliver
What if a hundred rose-breasted grosbeaks
flew in circles around your head? What if
the mockingbird came into the house with you and
became your advisor? What if
the bees filled your walls with honey and all
you needed to do was ask them and they would fill
the bowl? What if the brook slid downhill just
past your bedroom window so you could listen
to its slow prayers as you fell asleep? What if
the stars began to shout their names, or to run
this way and that way above the clouds? What if
you painted a picture of a tree, and the leaves
began to rustle, and a bird cheerfully sang
from its painted branches? What if you suddenly saw
that the silver of water was brighter than the silver
of money? What if you finally saw
that the sunflowers, turning toward the sun all day
and every day--who knows how, but they do it--were
more precious, more meaningful than gold?
Of course, all of the questions Oliver asks are pretty amazing exercises in imagination. They're questions only poets and prophets would probably contemplate. But the most important question of all resides in the title: "How Would You Live Then?" If any or all of these "what ifs" were real, would it change how you interact with the world on a daily basis? Oliver makes no attempt to answer any of the questions she asks. Maybe she knows that any answer is simply not going to be as interesting as the question itself.
I think all human beings play this "what if" game because every human being has ideas of what would make the universe better. For Oliver, it's rose-breasted grosbeaks orbiting her head and an oil painting of a tree suddenly coming to life. Those are things that Oliver values. My "what ifs" will be different than Mary Oliver's or Clarence Thomas's, or Mark Zuckerberg's or Pope Francis's.
So, in the spirit of Oliver's poem, I've decided to provide some of my own "what ifs." No answers, just questions.
What if the sun crowed like a rooster as it climbed into the morning sky?
What if my puppy could speak and tell me exactly where she wanted me to scratch her?
What if Lake Superior sang "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" every time a boat launched into its waters?
What if pizza helped you lose weight?
What if skunks smelled like blooming lilacs?
What is angels walked around like in the Old Testament, knocking on front doors, looking for dinner and a place to spend the night?
What if you replace the word "angels" with "homeless people" in the previous question?
What if the whole world just ignored Donald Trump for the rest of his life?
What if rainbows tasted like fresh homemade bread?
What if everyone made Christmas tapioca instead of Christmas cookies?
What if all the nuclear stockpiles in the world transformed into fruits and vegetables and potable water?
What if I won the Nobel Prize in Literature this year?
What if Bigfoot walked out of the woods and bitch slapped anyone drilling for oil in Alaska?
What if there were term limits for Justices on the United States Supreme Court?
What if all the fossil fuels in the world turned back into fossils?
What if all the fossils in the world turned back into dinosaurs?
What if Jesus stopped by for a visit to tell everyone that love is love is love?
What if people in the United States were just as concerned about guns as they are about drag queens?
What if Elvis really is still alive?
What if the stars at night whispered bedtimes stories from the heavens?
What if poets and artists ran the world?
What if Saint Marty could make the lame walk; the blind see; and Republican politicians become poor, Black, and transgender?
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