As a long-time news and political junkie — ignoring the refresh button on my computer and phone is no easy task. Yet, being away with family this past weekend gave me the opportunity to shun the 24-hour news cycle that often has more of my attention than I dare admit.

 

On a brisk walk on the beach, this Mary Oliver poem came to mind. She reminds us that when the swirl of our lives is too much for us, there is always somewhere we can go to hear life’s music again. I wish for you all the chance to find a moment or two to step away from the cacophony and re-connect with the song of your life.

 

 

What Can I say?

 

What can I say that I have not said before?
So I’ll say it again.
The leaf has a song in it.
Stone is the face of patience.
Inside the river there is an unfinishable story
and you are somewhere in it
and it will never end until all ends.

 

Take your busy heart to the art museum and the
chamber of commerce
but take it also to the forest.
The song you heard singing in the leaf when you
were a child
is singing still.
I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four,
and the leaf is singing still.

— Mary Oliver