You Do Not Have To Be Good

 

“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

 Inspired by:  Kathy over at Minuscule Moments of Inspiration

This poem and Kathy’s beautiful post touched my heart and I wanted to share it with you.  Mary Oliver has a way with words, doesn’t she?  I love her poetry and I am grateful to Kathy for introducing me to this particular poem.  I think we all strive to be good, to be seen as good and to be worthy.  This poem allowed me to breathe in the life of the world and settle into the family of things without sadness.  I hope you find that it helps you too. ♥

Shine On!

xo

 

Raindrops

“Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,
what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again
in a new way
on the earth!
That’s what it said
as it dropped,
smelling of iron,
and vanished
like a dream of the ocean
into the branches
and the grass below.
Then it was over.
The sky cleared.
I was standing
under a tree.
The tree was a tree
with happy leaves,
and I was myself,
and there were stars in the sky
that were also themselves
at the moment
at which moment
my right hand
was holding my left hand
which was holding the tree
which was filled with stars
and the soft rain –
imagine! imagine!
the long and wondrous journeys
still to be ours.”
― Mary Oliver

 Shine On!

xo

*photo by Stefan Gessert