Thursday, September 06, 2012
wild geese.
"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 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,
call to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Nan and I sat on her back deck almost every morning this summer. The sounds of geese as they flew overhead were one of my favourite things about the last few days before I left for China.
(P.S. Another poem by Mary Oliver)
Labels:
poetry
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Hi Amanda
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on my moon and fire photos. i really like the photo in this post. Is that from China or Fredericton? Hope you are well and enjoying your new job.
Hi Amanda
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on my moon and fire photos. i really like the photo in this post. Is that from China or Fredericton? Hope you are well and enjoying your new job.
Ah, the Mary Oliver standard, her most famous poem. Difficult to read now and sense the impact of reading it the first time, speaking for myself.
ReplyDeleteFor another goodie of hers, darker, see "In the Pine Woods, Crow and Owl". I think it opens American Primitive. Gives me the shivers still.
Dalyce - The photo is from my most recent trip to Vermont, in May!
ReplyDeleteJohn - Just read the poem you recommended and wow, dark!