That Little Beast - Mary Oliver

So often God speaks to me through songs, poems, or stories. Sitting with these beautiful words can be a kind of prayer exercise as I talk to God about the emotions they sparked in me.

Below is Mary Oliver’s poem, That Little Beast. While the original emphasis of this passage was a poem, not a soul, I think Oliver would approve, since she probably thought of her soul as a poem that she was continually trying to express! This passage challenged me to do a better job of sitting still with my own soul, with its fears, desires, and longings.

Oliver’s poem reminds me of a quote by Parker Palmer: “The soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, self-sufficient. It knows how to survive in hard places. But it is also shy. Just like a wild animal, it seeks safety in the dense underbrush. If we want to see a wild animal, we know that the last thing we should do is go crashing through the woods yelling for it to come out. But if we will walk quietly into the woods, sit patiently by the base of the tree, and fade into our surroundings, the wild animal we seek might put in an appearance.”

I invite you to read That Little Beast and then patiently, quietly await your soul to see what it has to tell you.

That pretty little beast, the soul,*
has a mind of its own.
Sometimes I want it to crave apples
but it wants red meat.
Sometimes I want to walk peacefully
on the shore
and it wants to take off all its clothes
and dive in.

Sometimes I want to use small words
and make them important
and it starts shouting the dictionary,
the opportunities.

Sometimes I want to sum up and give thanks,
putting things in order
and it starts dancing around the room
on its four furry legs, laughing and calling me outrageous.

But sometimes, when I'm thinking of about you,
and no doubt smiling,
it sits down quietly, one paw under its chin,
and just listens.

Soul/Contemplative Questions:

1. In this poem, the soul is described as a pretty little beast. How do you view your soul? If you were to pick an image to describe it, what would it be? 

2. How do you think God sees your soul? Can you sit with Him for several minutes of silence and ask Him to show you how He thinks of it?

3. Hold whatever God shows you in your mind. What does this image He’s revealed to you say about His thoughts toward you? Or how He feels when He thinks about you? What does that stir up within your soul?

Note: I have changed several words from the artist’s original content. I don’t think I’ve improved on their work by any means, but sometimes I substitute a few words to make a poem or song more God- or soul-centric for my personal growth. My changes are noted below:

*a poem