"The Wood Shed" a poem by Mary Oliver

"For weeks, the center of the Universe is the woodshed, which I keep filling,

which I keep emptying and filling, working every morning.

in the light-soaked yard among the heaps of pink oak, yellow birch, red pine.

Sometimes, I rest a little.

Then, I gaze out from the yard into the world, or I gaze into myself.

But mostly I give attention to what I am doing...

cutting, chopping, stacking. I have a good time.

This is how it is, year after year... everything put by, nothing kept,

everything used up.

And that, as much as anything, is the wonder of it, I say philosophically...

how it all gathers and vanishes,

how it all goes up into smoke."