You Do Not Have To Be Good

[redbrunja]

Wild Geese
~Mary Oliver

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.

Comments

[keirelle.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite teachers opens every class he teaches with this poem on the first day. Lovely. =)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

It is an awesome poem.

And it always reminds me of Zuko.

[yumi-maki.livejournal.com]

I think I can relate to this. It's a beautiful poem.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

It is.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I posted this one last year, and I still love it. :-)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Were you the one who talked about how it reminded you of Zuko? Because if so, you introduced me to this poem.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I do not think I did, but when I posted it, I used this icon with Zuko doing the dragon dance in it. It felt appropriate.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Very appropriate.