Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
Wild Geese
Mary OliverYou 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.
MARGINALIA
For R., who needs to believe in something true.
ABOUT MARY OLIVER
Mary Oliver was born and raised in Maple Hills Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Oliver’s poetry won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and a Lannan Literary Award for lifetime achievement. Her last books included A Thousand Mornings (2012), Dog Songs (2013), Blue Horses (2014), Felicity (2015), Upstream: Selected Essays (2016), and Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (2017). Oliver lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Hobe Sound,… (more)
Read more poems by Mary Oliver • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Follow on Instagram • Facebook • Website • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: compassion • nature • belonging • Or browse the index
- If this work resonates with you, please consider supporting the archive. Thank you for reading.
Pingback: our happiness by Eileen Myles « Read A Little Poetry
Zam
Been following you for years already, two or three years I think. Although, not as diligent as I’d like. I have always been touched by your selection of poems. But sometimes, I just use it as an excuse to read your writings. Thank you for reminding me again the beauty of words.
Btw, I’m trying out this self-impose challenge where I have to memorize one poem a week. Wild Geese seems like a perfect starting point.