The Real Prayers Are Not the Words, But the Attention that Comes First
Audio Poem of the Day

The Real Prayers Are Not the Words, But the Attention that Comes First

A2ElementaryOctober 24, 20261 min
  • Arts & culture

By Mary Oliver (read by Eliza Foss) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Sentence 3 of 12 · 0:13

The Real Prayers Are Not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First, by Mary Oliver.

, , .

Its eye at this distance looked like green glass.

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A2

A2 · Elementary

Everyday topics, clear speech

A1 74%A2 13%B1 0%B2 13%C1 0%
  • 87% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 132 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 1 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

This audio poem is a production of PoetryFoundation.org. The Real Prayers Are Not the Words, but the Attention that Comes First, by Mary Oliver. The little hawk leaned sideways and, tilted, rode the wind. Its eye at this distance looked like green glass.

0:22

Its feet were the color of butter. Speed obviously was joy. But then so was the sudden, slow circle it carved into the slightly silvery air, and the squaring of its shoulders, and the pulling into itself the long sharp-edged wings, and

0:40

the fall into the grass where it tussled a moment, like a bundle of brown leaves, and then again lifted itself into the air, that butter-color clenched in order to hold a small, body and it flew off as my mind sang out, oh, all that loose blue ring of sky. Where does it go to and why?

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