"The Whistler," A Prose poem by Mary Oliver

Steve, The Whistler, 2005

"Great Whistlers You Can Hear Online"

http://www.tcfgroup.com/greatwhistlers.html

"The Whistler" is Mary Oliver's breath-stopping prose poem that brings full-circle her opening reflections on never fully knowing even those nearest to us – a beautiful testament to what another wise woman once wrote: “You can never know anyone as completely as you want. But that’s okay, love is better.”

"The Whistler" is embedded in a post by Maria Popova who blogs at "Brain Pickings"

"Mary Oliver On What Attention Really Means And Her Moving Eulogy To Her Soul Mate"
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/01/20/mary-oliver-molly-malone-cook-our-world/?mc_cid=03189789e8&mc_eid=abb8585559

Alan: About a year ago, I visited my bank in Durham, North Carolina, and was whistling absent-mindedly from the time I entered the building until I finished filling out my deposit slip. 

When I looked up at row of cashiers standing at a counter 30 feet in front of me, they were all smiling. 

Smiling at me. 

Since there happened to be no other customers in the bank, I said to them, "Why are you so happy?" 

One young woman replied: "Because you're whistling. You got us talking and we realized no one whistles in public anymore. It's great that you do."

I should mention that I am not a very good whistler. 

It's a habit I inherited from my Dad who used to whistle -- almost under his breath -- simple riffs in a narrow musical range. 

He never whistled "known" songs.

It was as if he was giving vent to the breeze in his beautiful mind.