i look upon everything

and therefore i look upon everything

as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,

and i look upon time as no more than an idea,

and i consider eternity as another possibility,

and i think of each life as a flower, as common

as a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,

ending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and something

precious to the earth.

mary oliver