Saturday, November 14, 2009

Little Retreat - 9: Mary Oliver


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.

4 comments:

Carol said...

Very powerful poem and photo, GG. And they're what I needed this morning. Thank you.

Terri said...

over and over again I come upon this poem and always it speaks deeply into my being...thank you for bringing it to me again today.

Gannet Girl said...

MP, it has practically become my annual Ode to Autumn.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

That is one of my favorites of hers.