The Snow Cricket by Mary Oliver

Just beyond the leaves and the white faces

Of the lilies,

I saw the wings

Of the green snow cricket

As it went flying

From vine to vine,

Searching, then finding a shadowed place in which

To sing and sing…

One repeated

Rippling phrase

Built of loneliness

And its consequences: longing

And hope…

It was trembling

With the force of its crying out,

And in truth I couldn’t wait to see if another would come to it

For fear that it wouldn’t,

And I wouldn’t be able to bear it

I wished it good luck, with all my heart,

And went back over the lawn, to where the lilies were standing

On their calm, cob feet,

Each in the ease

Of a single, waxy body

Breathing contentedly in the chill night air;

And I swear I pitied them, as I looked down

into the theater of their perfect faces-

That frozen, bottomless glare.