Last updated on December 19, 2023
…
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
The world has a place for us all to grow and explore. Delightful poem.
Such a stunning poem, and one that you feel in your bones.
It’s nice
Thank you
My favourite of her poems…she is a genius of understanding the human heart ❤️
I agree.
Simply beautiful ❤️
It’s one of my favorites.
Lovely. I took a plate of Christmas cookies to my neighbor today. She’s 85 and very lonely. She has 4 adult children nearby, but they all have kids and jobs and grandkids and and and….she sees them often but it’s not enough. She was excited about the cookies, looking forward to having a cup of coffee and a cookie, but I think she was even more excited by the visit and conversation.
That was so sweet of you. So many seniors that are high up in age are lonely. Most of their friends are gone, their families are often older too. I remember my 90 year old neighbor who always worried something would happen to her kids, after all they were between 60-70 themselves.
This is among my “most favorite” of poems. We have a flock of geese that traverse between parks (we think) and fly in formation over our house in the morning and again at sundown. Each and every day for years this movement brings joy to my heart, and I always say, “There go Mary’s geese.” Thank you for this poem today, Bridget. I think it’s exquisite.
I have a soft spot for geese (flying and in the oven) myself.
I have always loved this poem, it’s simple and the message is wonderful.
beautiful
Thank you, Lisa.
Lovely
Thank you, Derrick.