“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”

“Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”

“How heron comesIt is a negligence of the mindnot to notice how at duskheron comes to the pond andstands there in his death robes, perfectservant of the system, hungry, his eyesfull of attention, his wingspure light”

“The salamanders,like tiny birds, locked into formation,fly down into the endless mysteriesof the transforming water,and how could anyone believethat anything in this worldis only what it appears to be—that anything is ever final—that anything, in spite of its absence,ever diesa perfect death?(from the poem 'What Is It?')”

“Ten times a day something happens to me like this - some strengthening throb of amazement - some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.”

“PrayingIt doesn’t have to bethe blue iris, it could beweeds in a vacant lot, or a fewsmall stones; justpay attention, then patcha few words together and don’t tryto make them elaborate, this isn’ta contest but the doorwayinto thanks, and a silence in whichanother voice may speak.”

“My work is the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird - equal seekers of sweetness. Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums...”