Wild Geese

I found a link to this poem on the lovely Shapely Prose.

Wild Geese

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 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

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2 comments:

aufderheide said...

This? Is so damn true. We all have a place in the world. I'm doing my best to cut out the "noise" and find it. Thanks for posting the whole poem.

Sarah said...

Lovely.

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.


Reading that is like letting out a deep breath.

xoxo

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I'm a science writer, a jewelry design artist, a bookworm, a complete geek, and mom to a wonderful kitty. I am also recovering from a decade-plus battle with anorexia nervosa. I believe that complete recovery is possible, and that the first step along that path is full nutrition.

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