101 Poems, Number 69

Favorite Poems Throughout My Life

69: “The Black Snake,” by Mary Oliver (1935–)

“When the black snake flashed … the morning road,

And the truck could not swerve”—that does not bode

Too well, not for the snake, at least,

Which has no chance. A truck! (A beast!)

And Oliver then meditates

On life and death—oh, no debates

About our common craving just to stay

Alive—not die, no not today!

But trucks are trucks. And we are frail.

We can’t withstand it. So we fail.

Along the road of life we lie—

Surprised to learn that we will die.

Link to poem.