You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Mary Oliver, from Dream Work
4 comments:
A favorite
of this one
Then all of
Mary Oliver's
are favorites :)
I love that poem! By the way you've inspired me to start a photo and spirit blog at http://healing1light.wordpress.com though I don't know if I'll ever be as prolific and thoughtful there as your blog is.
I really needed this today. Thank you.
The photograph is extraordinary. Every year I watch for the geese, to call goodbye to them (and in truth, I feel that tug of the heart to follow).
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