An Unbroken Field

“Tell me, what is it you 

plan to do with your one 

wild and precious life?”

Mary Oliver penned these 

words at the end of her 

poem The Summer Day. 

Summer has yet to bless us, 

but her question stands for any season. There was no plan 

when my life stepped out 

on its own. It became a charcoal sketch with roads 

going hither and thither, 

mountains to climb, rivers 

to cross, and stars to sleep under, 

blue skies or grey, stormy 

weather or calm. Looking into 

the distance of yesterday, 

my heart may have whispered 

a direction. For each tomorrow, 

there is an unbroken field.

“Study the past if you would define the future.”

~ Confucius