Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
Meaning
The closing question of Oliver's poem after a grasshopper has been watched in a field. She asks how you will spend a single, unrepeatable life. Try it on a Sunday night: write down one thing you will actually do this week that you would regret skipping.
Source: New and Selected Poems (1992), "The Summer Day"
About the author
Mary Oliver (1935–2019) was an American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. She is known for plainspoken nature poems that celebrate attention and wonder.
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