Wild Geese - and all other living things

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