out of the blue: some thoughts inspired by the poetry of mary oliver

I cannot explain why

the words came to me as I drove today.

‘You do not have to be good’

And then a second time,

You do not have to be …

…something I couldn’t recall

but further on, I knew it was about the wild geese

that call to you…

I repeated them until

I came to the fullness of them, knowing only 

that they were words of

 mary oliver, called Wild Geese.

Here they are: 

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.

and all the while, I felt an urging to give them my

own meaning, my own version.

Here it is.

Forgive me for this blatant plagiarism and possible copyright infringement.

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to bear the burdens

for a hundred years of this place repenting.

You only have to let the sad cry of your soul

love what it loves.

Tell me about worries, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the mist lying deep in the valley

moves across to the mountains,

over the homesteads and the homeless,

Towards the mountains and the sky.

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.