Stop sometimes and look
into the stains of walls,
or ashes of a fire, or clouds,
or mud or like places -
you may find marvelous ideas.
~ Leonardo da Vinci
PHILOSOPHY IN WARM WEATHER
Now all the doors and windows
are open, and we move so easily
through the rooms. Cats roll
on the sunny rugs, and a clumsy wasp
climbs the pane, pausing
to rub a leg over her head.
All around physical life reconvenes.
The molecules of our bodies must love
to exist: they whirl in circles
and seem to begrudge us nothing.
Heat, Horatio, heat makes them
put this antic disposition on!
This year's brown spider
sways over the door as I come
and go. A single poppy shouts
from the far field, and the crow,
beyond alarm, goes right on
pulling up the corn.
— Jane Kenyon
from The Boat of Quiet Hours
Poetry Garden
