Question

I would like to write a poem about the world that has in it

nothing fancy.

But it seems impossible.

Whatever the subject, the morning sun

glimmers it.

The tulip feels the heat and flaps its petals open and becomes a star.

The ants bore into the peony bud and there is a dark

pinprick well of sweetness.

As for the stones on the beach, forget it.

Each one could be set in gold.

So I tried with my eyes shut, but of course the birds

were singing.

And the aspen trees were shaking the sweetest music

out of their leaves.

And that was followed by, guess what, a momentous and

beautiful silence

as comes to all of us, in little earfuls, if we’re not too

hurried to hear it.

As for spiders, how the dew hangs in their webs

even if they say nothing, or seem to say nothing.

So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe they sing.

So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe the stars sing too,

and the ants, and the peonies, and the warm stones,

so happy to be where they are, on the beach, instead of being

locked up in gold.

From Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver, Published by Beacon Press Boston. Copyright © 2004 by Mary Oliver. Used herewith by permission of The Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency Inc.


Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under theCC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

Notes
AllDefinitionsFootnotes
a type of flower

Momentous (adjective) : of great importance or significance
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Assessment Questions
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PART A: In line 7, what does the phrase "bore into" mean?


A. dig a hole in
B. intensely stare at
C. quickly break apart
D. build small nests in

Answers

GPT-4o mini
In line 7, the phrase "bore into" means:

**A. dig a hole in**

This phrase suggests that the ants are digging into the peony bud to access the sweetness inside.

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