The (Silent) Poetry Reading

It is happiness.
-Mary Oliver

It's the second annual Blogger's (Silent) Poetry Reading in honor of St. Brigid's Day. My contribution is from Mary Oliver, one of my favorite poets.

Sunrise

You can
die for it -
an idea,
or the world. People

have done so,
brilliantly,
letting
their small bodies be bound

to the stake
creating
an unforgettable
fury of light. But

this morning,
climbing the familiar hills
in the familiar
fabric of dawn, I thought

of China,
and India
and Europe, and I thought
how the sun

blazes for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises

under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?

What is the name
of the deep breaths I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.