Mary Oliver had a beloved little dog named Percy. She wrote about him often but the 2 poems I include here have always been favourites that I thought I would share.
1) I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life
"Love, love, love says Percy.
"And run as fast as you can
along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.
Then go to sleep.
Give up your body heat, your beating heart.
Then, trust."
2)The Storm
Now through the white orchard my little dog
romps, breaking the new snow
with wild feet.
Running here running there, excited,
hardly able to stop, he leaps, he spins
until the white snow is written upon
in large, exuberant letters,
a long sentence, expressing
the pleasures of the body in this world.
Oh, I could not have said it better.
