Things to Think

by Robert Bly

Think in ways you’ve never thought before.
If the phone rings, think of it as carrying a message
Larger than anything you’ve ever heard,
Vaster than a hundred lines of Yeats.

Think that someone may bring a bear to your door,
Maybe wounded and deranged; or think that a moose
Has risen out of the lake, and he’s carrying on his antlers
A child of your own whom you’ve never seen.

When someone knocks on the door, think that he’s about
To give you something large: tell you you’re forgiven,
Or that it’s not necessary to work all the time, or that it’s
Been decided that if you lie down no one will die.

From the book, Morning Poems, by Robert Bly, HarperCollins, New York, 1997

Interviewer: In 1997 you published a book called Morning Poems. Why did you take that title?

Robert Bly: The poems in that book I wrote in bed, in the early morning. I took the plan from Bill Stafford, who, as you know, wrote a poem every morning for about forty years.

Robert Bly, an interview.

Feature image: Michael Kenna