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.

-Mary Oliver


I can't believe I've never posted this poem before. It is my favorite poem of all time. Bold statement, I know. Whenever I'm feeling the least bit lost or lonely, I read this and it puts me back on track. I'm reminded that I don't have to get down on myself; I can embrace. And I don't need to drown in my emotional hell, because there is so much more to life than that; life is so much bigger and more beautiful than what I'm broken up about in the moment. There is no need for loneliness; the world is ours, and is a part of us.