Your Words Spoke Directly to the Deepest Part of Me

Dear Mary,

Four volumes of your poetry sit on my desk along with a few other writers whose work inspires me and opens up my heart.

I came to know your poetry only in the last few years.  I was at a writer's conference in Taos, NM with Natalie Goldberg. I was talking with a fellow writer and she told me about you.  She gave me a volume of your poetry to read.  I took it to my room and read through most of it that night.  It was as though you had known me all my life and your words spoke directly to the deepest part of me. 

Two of your poems that impacted me are "The Journey," which I use a quote from on my website home page.  Another is "When Death Comes":

"When it's over, I want to say: all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was the bridegroom taking the world into my arms. 

When it's over, I don't want to wonder

if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, 

or full of argument

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world."

Thank you for choosing the simple life that has allowed you the time and inspiration to produce so much beauty.  Your poetry will always be beloved.  I will always hold you in my heart, your words timeless reminders to live my life to the fullest.

Paula Todd King