Wild Geese, Mary Oliver, Poetry Thursday

Last weekend, our Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction class took part of day-long silent meditation retreat.  One of the readings our teachers shared with us was an excerpt of this poem by Mary Oliver.

The teacher had actually read it to us in our class the previous Monday ... and I had tried to recall the words so I could look it up at home.

Here it is ...a real poem for Poetry Thursday...just for you.  And the poet reading her poetry follows from youtube.  Wild Geese starts at 1:50.

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.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver

published by Atlantic Monthly Press

© Mary Oliver

You can read more of Mary Oliver's poems here.  I borrowed the poem from that website. THANK YOU.