Beyond Ambition

There is a Place Beyond Ambition
When the flute players
couldn’t think of what to say next

they laid down their pipes,
then they lay down themselves
beside the river

and just listened.
Some of then, after a while,
jumped up
and disappeared back inside the busy town.
But the rest—
so quiet, not even thoughtful—
are still there,

still listening.

Mary Oliver, REDBIRD (Boston: Beacon, 2008)