Fancy But Empty Words

I know a lot of fancy words.
I tear them from my heart and my tongue.
Then I pray.

This is a simple and elegant poem from Mary Oliver. The words seem pretty up front and straight forward to when you look at it from first glance. First we see that the writer knows a lot of “fancy” words which just means an extended vocabulary. They then tear them from their heart and tongue which means they separate themselves from those words. Because after they have simplified their way of speech they can communicate honestly with God.

Now, this seems like this is it to the poem. It’s short so the analysis must be short as well, right? We see that the writer is intelligent and they must simplify the way they speak in order to talk to God. It might make us feel like we too should re-examine our thinking and prayers. However, there is more to this than the surface. If you look deeply and are willing to open your mind, you will begin to ask the questions of why and how and who really is the author.

This poem is about the prayer of any person. We can put ourselves and read aloud the poem as if we were saying the words ourselves. We often find ourselves needing and longing to say the right things. Our own sanity relies on how well and how often we can communicate with others around us. The words we say take up so much of our time and prioritize our thoughts. Words help mold and represent who we are as people and how our relationships are formed and strengthened. Most people rely on words than actions because it’s quicker and more efficient. So if we are striving to keep our relationships here on earth due to the utmost importance they hold to our lives and sanity, think about how we need to strive for us wanting to pray to God. There are many days where I know I just wait and yearn for the voice of God. I sometimes buy into the fact that if I just talk enough or say the right thing, He will respond in a voice that is similar to Morgan Freeman’s. This is a wrong thought though that many people give into.

Oliver has the right frame of mind when she admits that she knows a lot of fancy words. She is using the first sentence to declare her intelligence. And at first you might think that this is a good thing. But then when you go down to the second line you see her say that she tears them from not only her heart but her tongue. Oliver uses the word “tear” because of the urgent and drastic connotation the word has to the reader. Usually a tear is something that is pulled apart by force. Oliver shows us that we must tear away our fancy words from our heart and tongue. We must force ourselves to separate from what we usually rely on which are words. She tears the fancy words away from her heart so she might be more sincere, and then she tears away in the same manner from her tongue so that her words might be genuine.
Finally, Oliver prays.

Praying simply; praying beautifully; praying sincerely. This is what Mary Oliver does. In the midst of silence, without the needs to speak correctly or “feel” what we are suppose to feel, Oliver can truly pray. She trusts that the Father will know not what she says but what she means. Often this cannot not be expressed in words of man but words of the Spirit.

You see, there is something about this poem that we fail to realize which her utter surrender to God is. This poem shows that she stripped herself from fancy words (which she must be good at because she is a poet) and those fancy words must be part of her security and safety. We must be like Oliver and when we pray not to focus in on what we say or how we say it. Our words are empty if we only try to say the right thing. The Creator of everything knows our hearts yet we still feel like we have to communicate in such a manner that will appease Him. We only need to say what we feel, not what we think we should say.

Oliver calls us to strip away the words and to be comfortable in the silence. Are we willing to get rid of our securities such as words and need to please? Because if we are, then I truly believe we will understand what Mary Oliver wrote. We simply need to cast away such things that we think might help in order to rely on what true praying is: talking to God, our Savior.

We make things so complex. We try to say the right things. We even have thoughts that are so audacious as if we reason with God when we heavily rely on words.
Mary Oliver breaks down prayer into what it means. It is simple and not too complex. However, our natures make us tend to over complicate things.

God just wants our hearts and our tongues to praise Him. Our words cannot even express how much He has done for us and how awesome He truly is.