Jackie Kay: This poem makes you appreciate those kind friends that lift the darkness

Mary Oliver, who died last year aged 83, is one of my favourite poets.

Her poems live and breathe the natural world – and you learn to appreciate the blue skirts of the ocean and the thousand birds reading her.

The title made me think of all the creative ways that people have been helping their neighbours in these days of the coronavirus.

The poem makes you want to appreciate everything that you do have, kind friends that lift the darkness.

A Note Left on The Door, By Mary Oliver

There are these: the blue

skirts of the ocean walking in now, almost

to the edge of town,

and a thousand birds, in their incredible wings

which they think nothing of, crying out

that the day is long, the fish are plentiful.

And friends, being as kind as friends can be,

striving to lift the darkness.

Forgive me, Lord of honeysuckle, of trees,

of notebooks, of typewriters, of music,

that there are also these:

the lover, the singer, the poet

asleep in the shadows.