The last two lines of Mary Oliver’s The Summer Day have been quoted into oblivion. Quoted to the degree that makes people roll their eyes. Framed alongside quips such as “live, love, laugh” and typeset in the swirly-whirly typefaces of wedding invites.
Despite that, I urge you to read the poem every morning.
The Summer Day is such a perfect way to start your day, because reading the whole thing reminds us of at least two things: that life is precious, and that spending the day doing almost nothing is a perfectly great way to experience that life—especially on a summer’s day.
The last two lines in isolation might suggest you’re not doing enough. Like you’re never doing enough. What pressure! What will you do, with your one wild and precious life? What could possibly be enough? But really, on that summer’s day… what else should you have done?
The thing is, if you read the poem enough times and think about it for long enough, you start to imagine how you might spend more of your days. How you might discover the things that feel less like pressure to live someone else’s life, and more like the fulfillment of your own.
Something strange happens, I think, when we get intimate with an idea. When we really internalize it and think about it all the time. It starts to change us. Gradually, at first, and then all at once. I believe that The Summer Day can do that, and I really do urge you to read it.