An ode to the sun this week and a gentle reproach against capitalism.

Mary Oliver

The Sun

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful
than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone–
and how it slides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance–
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love–
do you think there is anywhere, in any
language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you
as you stand there,
empty-handed–
or have you too
turned from this world–
or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?

I'd have loved to see the world through Mary Oliver's eyes. She whole heartedly embraced nature, the responsibility it asks of us and the wonder it offers in return. In this poem, she describes the sun's rising and setting with such perfect imagery that you can see the process unfolding in your mind. Then it dawns on you that this ordinary, often overlooked, occurrence is really something remarkable.

In a yoga context, the rising sun represents yang energy. The energy of awakening, movement, creativity and renewal. In contrast, the setting sun reflects yin energy; a softer, quieter invitation to rest and restore. Both are necessary and the sun shows us each day how to achieve this balance.

The poem communicates Oliver’s intuition about the relationship between all people and all living things. A shared rhythm of light and dark, a collective experience, even without the language to describe it. At the same time, she suggests that humans are slowly turning away from this connection to the natural world, becoming consumed by status, materialism and the constant pursuit of more. The poem acts as a quiet warning that when we lose touch with nature’s rhythms, we also risk losing touch with ourselves and each other.