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.
"Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver
from Dream Work
published by Atlantic Monthly Press
© Mary Oliver
My Published Memoir
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"What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open " M.R.
she's precocious / and she knows just what it takes / to make the pros blush
The Mr. & Mrs.
what i thought love was is so much less than what it is
Our Pack: Dakota Wolf, Lola Moon, Ian Oliver and our baby, Ever Elizabeth
Someone may have stolen your dream when it was young and fresh and you were innocent. Anger is natural. Grief is appropriate. Healing is mandatory. Restoration is possible. -Jane Rubietta
you can stand under my umbrella
the light is on for you
My dear child, who can tell? One can only tell that, by remembering something which happened where we lived before; and as we remember nothing, we know nothing about it; and no book, and no man, can ever tell us certainly.
Some couples don’t ask much of one another after they’ve worked out the fundamentals of jobs and children. Some live separate intellectual and cultural lives, and survive, but the most intense, most fulfilling marriages need, I think, to struggle toward some kind of ideological convergence. Norman Rush
Pray For Kate McRae
click for link
I Believe In Nationwide Health Care
E Pluribus Unum ( Out of Many, One )
"I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings." - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
One of my favorite poems, ever. Thank you. xo
beautiful. I once submitted a poem to the Atlantic monthly... rejected. It wasn't as good as this one ;-)
gorgeous. i do so love her. thanks for sharing.
This is such a good one. Thank-you.
the clear pebbles of the rain
LOVE.
I love this poem. Something about those geese. Tragedy to have a cervical injury.
this is so beautiful. I actually had never read it before. Thank you for sharing -- it actually fits so well with what I've been reading and thinking about these past few days.
-elizabeth
No matter how many times I read this poem, I can't believe how beautiful and perfect it is. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for posting this. It's a beautiful poem. I especially love the last stanza.
What an absolutely evocative, lovely lovely poem.
Thanks for sharing!
Smiles
I've never come across this before. It's beautiful. Thank you for that.
Alike spirits think alike. No wonder we made the same choice. Love from here.
This is a lovely thing to encounter on a too-much-week-not-enough-weekend Friday morning....
I've always loved this poem!
Yes.
You found the perfect poem for yourself right now - and for others.
A sustaining moment through this poem. I trust all is well.
Oh, I love this. Thank you for sharing.
One of the few poems I committed to memory. So perfect for the last day of National Poetry Month.
I think this is Mary Oliver's best poem ever. It always touches my heart no matter how many times I read it. Thanks for sharing it. Blessings! xo
beautiful poem!
this is one of my all time favourites.
Mary Oliver is incredible
Thank you so much for this! When you try to wrap yourself around these thoughts you find they meld into your inner being, brighten, and say be a hue man.
Thank you. So, so much.
thank you for this important and beautiful reminder.
mary oliver was just in cleveland and i wasn't able to see her. major sigh.
i adore this poem.
xo Alison
This too is one of my favorite poems.
That's wonderful, I loved reading that poem! Thanks for posting.
Nice poem! It's so pretty.
I love this poem every time I hear it or read it. Thanks. I just caught up on the last few posts, and my oh my you have been swamped. Hoping you can be at ease.
It's a relief to read, really.
I am thinking of you and whispering prayers out.
Mary Oliver is a Saint, a Goddess, a Poet.
The more I read Oliver, the more I feel I know her and see the world through her eyes in bits and flashes. She is a blessing to me.
My favorite poem. Something about needing to be told "its okay--you have a right to exist." That really resonates.....
Thankyou for introducing me to Mary Oliver... have just copied her words into my poetry journal...
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