Wild Geese - 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 dispair; yours and I will tell you mine;
Meanwhile the world goes on
Meanwhile the sun and clear pebbles of the rain
Are moving across the landscapes
Over the praries and the deep trees,
The mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile, the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
Are heading home again.
Who ever you are, now 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