Thanksgiving Poem
Wild Geese by 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 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.
I'm thinking a lot about the "family of things" this Thanksgiving. There seems to be so very much to think about...such as
Trust. How do people in organizations function when they fail to establish a basic level of trust?
And, if we fail to trust one another, how then do we manage to function with integrity and respect?
I am fairly destracted by stuff going on....but it is feeling a bit like Thanksgiving, despite living in the desert...because it's raining and cool!
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 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.
I'm thinking a lot about the "family of things" this Thanksgiving. There seems to be so very much to think about...such as
Trust. How do people in organizations function when they fail to establish a basic level of trust?
And, if we fail to trust one another, how then do we manage to function with integrity and respect?
I am fairly destracted by stuff going on....but it is feeling a bit like Thanksgiving, despite living in the desert...because it's raining and cool!
Comments
Happy Thanksgiving.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
and remembered the beauty of the afternoon sun shining through the weeds in my garden. Weeds are beautiful. Now, to a gardener, that's a weird concept. But it's true...
peace-
Deb