WILD GEESE
by Mary Oliver
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.
13 comments:
happy easter to you reya.
this poem is a favorite although this morning it makes me feel a little sad/wistful. "in the family of things", for me has changed so much.
i've enjoyed your cherry blossom photos, they are gorgeous. i would love to come see it someday. just incredible.
YAY! Eat a chocolate bunny! Happy day!
I have read this poem so many times, but it's always fresh and fulfilling.
Happy Easter!
great line,
The world offers itself to your imagination
Indeed!
Happy Easter.
The world offers itself to your imagination - yes! Lovely lines, I also like "You do not have to be good". No, and I am glad, because I am not, but I love my life and my imagination, and when I am happy, I can share my joy. Have a Happy Easter, Reya! Fröhliche Ostern!
Happy Easter, Reya! This poem stops my heart every time I read it. Thanks to both you and Mary Oliver for the reminder.
reya i love this poem - it finds a place in me as a whole - but i especially love the lines "whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination".
those words sing and dance inside the soft animal of my body. steven
This is beautiful. It seems appropriate somehow. It's nice to be reminded that there is a place for us all, no matter who or what we are, or have been.
Where in the world is the Easter Bunny standing for all those photos?
Have a very Happy Easter! I'm off to hide some eggs:)
Thank you for sharing that poem...what a good one for today. Before I blogged, I didn't know Mary Oliver and now I have another thing to enjoy in my family of things...
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
I love that. Happy Easter, Reya!
Fröhliche Ostern to you, too, Angela!
I always feel relieved when I read the poem. Thank God I don't have to be good, I don't have to cross the dessert like the Jews did in the Passover story, I don't have to be tortured to death like Jesus. THANK GOD!! And yet still I am one of the family of all things. It's so Easterish, so positive.
Yeah!!
Whitney, the day before Easter in my neighborhood park, they hold what they call "Eggstravaganza." Kids hunt for eggs, play weird games involving eggs, and have their pics taken with the bunny. It is mayhem, but so much fun.
Happy Bunny Day Reya!
I like the imagery of Mary's poem with the geese flying high overhead giving us the God's eye view of life and our place in it.
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