Monday, January 09, 2006

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 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.

~© Mary Oliver~

3 comments:

SmileyTD said...

Hey there, Melissa! Glad you stopped back by here to check out my site. :) Hope all is well with you.

SmileyTD said...

Well, of course you can say hi to Southern Boy while you're here. :) He most definitely has a way of brightening up the day.

I think it's a good thing that you have decided not to respond to others' derogatory comments about you. Good luck with that. I know it's difficult. Glad you feel safe posting here, though. LOL

Thanks once again for stopping by! :)

SmileyTD said...

And thank you again for the compliments on my blog. :)