Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

This isn’t the first time I’ve shared a poem written by Mary Oliver. So, it comes as no surprise that I’ve been wanting to post another favorite of hers called Wild Geese.

Oliver, as you may recall, is best known for her innocent and thought-provoking observances of the natural world. In many cases, she ties these moments of nature into a bigger, more spiritual contemplation about life and the little joys the earth brings us each day.

Here is Wild Geese, with one of my favorite poetical and inspirational lines from Oliver: “the world offers itself to your imagination”. Enjoy!

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.