Invitation
Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy
and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles
for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,
or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air
as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine
and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,
do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.
It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.
Mary Oliver, “Invitation,” A Thousand Mornings (New York: Penguin Books, 2013).
Yes, I am fond of Mary Oliver and often search through her poetry for blog inspiration… and I’m aware that the goldfinch image I’ve chosen is very similar to an earlier bird image for this blog! (June 12, 2023, if you’re curious). And, this is a new moment, a new day, and a new reflection…
This is an invitation to stop, to be present – to watch and listen – to be aware and open, to appreciate the simple things. And then the surprising questions: what has meaning? do we even know what might have meaning, now or in the future? Let’s save Rilke’s mind-bending question for the end of this little exploration.
Busy-ness
I love the way the poet introduces her invitation – so tentatively, so gently, as if she realizes what a bold question it is:
Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy
and very important day…
Do your days feel full? TOO full, too busy? Do you have a few moments to spare – to listen to birds singing, leaves blowing in a gentle breeze? Tilt your head back and watch the clouds? Feel your own body, the way your feet rest on the earth and your heart continues to beat all on its own?
If not, what fills your days and your mind? To-do lists. Appointments. Commitments. They may have to do with work or family obligations or home chores or service or social meetings. The have-to’s may range widely, but the point is, many of us live most of our days in busy-motion. And of course, there is always the cell phone…deemed essential, in perpetual use.
We may take time to do yoga, or walk, or even read – wonderful use of time. But still, there’s usually a plan, a schedule, a goal. Even a meditation practice can end up on the to-do list and become an obligatory appointment with “sitting.”
Much of this activity may be helpful or even feel necessary – whether we’re “doing” for ourselves or for others, for a meaningful purpose. So why would we consider a different kind of invitation?
Sheer Delight and Gratitude
The singing birds, Mary Oliver suggests, are living reminders, calling us to take “being alive” seriously. This amazing gift, the mysterious reality of simply being here, in a body, in this world. Even if we lean towards a spiritual path and perspective, we are invited to wake up to our world, to cherish and celebrate. All of this is so utterly amazing, incomprehensible – even if this world is “broken” and there is pain. The goldfinches sing their song in the pure simplicity, the miracle of life.
Then she speaks a direct invitation – “I beg you.” This feels like a summons. “Do not” miss this, ignore this, belittle the potential meaning(s) of this small thing, this “ridiculous performance” of birdsong. Pause, be present, attend to the possibility of deep significance – the kind of significance which, no doubt, we are constantly missing, passing by, ignoring. (Our “inner doers” are no doubt squirming and protesting at this point…..”Seriously?! Stop?“)
The final verse is classic for Mary Oliver: a serious and potentially life-changing summoning of a deeper perspective, a wakeup call. What if there is profound meaning to this daily performance of song? What if the simplest things in nature, in life, mean something – mean everything – and we are obliviously passing by, focused only on our daily agendas and obligations?
Rilke’s Invitation/Summons
She calls on the wisdom of Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926), who remains a well-loved poet in our times. This line, “You must change your life,” is the final line in his poem “Archaic Torso of Apollo” (as translated by Stephen Mitchell). (There are other translations with different nuances: Winslow Shea’s version of the final words in his 1980 translation is “Reform”!) While this is a stone statue of the torso of a dead body, Rilke feels the way it is “still suffused with brilliance from inside,” and insists “here there is no place that does not see you.” A double negative: pay attention! Do not, this contemporary poet implores (or commands?), walk by the simplest aspects of this world without pausing to pay attention and ponder. Ponder the mystery of life, and the inescapability of death… and in the process, perhaps we too may be seen?
Oliver titles her poem “Invitation.” A gentle title, But as we read the whole poem, we may begin to sense it is beautiful but also more vital than a simple invitation. What if this innocent “musical battle” of the goldfinches (like the ancient torso of Apollo) carries a crucial message and summons…
“You must change your life.”
When I am quiet and can sit with this final calling, or perhaps command – which, if it may be conveyed by goldfinch songs, maybe reaching out to us in a million different voices and forms – I sit stunned. This is not at heart a gentle invitation: we must somehow STOP. Practice being fully Present. Only in stopping to listen, to look, to feel, are we likely to take this “must” seriously – and then perhaps we may be ready to open to the still-unknown. To deeper awareness – not just in the mind, but in the heart, the whole body.
What do we feel automatically bound to? What really needs changing? What mysteries may be concealed in the deep silence that surrounds the striving of the singing birds – and surrounds everything? If birdsong can invite this questioning of our lives, perhaps a million small experiences can also, in their own way, shake up our habitual patterns – open us to different possibilities, deeper realities and new pathways…. If we are not just separate human doings, but part of this earthly mystery, what may be our purpose, our contribution, our gift to offer? What are we living for?
Are you open to the calling – the importance of questioning – the possibility of a radical re-orientation in your life?
,