MARY OLIVER READING "WILD GEESE"
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
- 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 your 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.
Published in “New and Selected Poems, Volume One” (Beacon Press; Reprint edition. April 15, 2004) page 110.
I am not dead or dying but I have left instruction for this to be read at my funeral. I love this poem more than I can say, and it encapulates more about life than I could ever fathom.
I read it at my Grandmother's funeral a couple days ago. It felt like the right thing to read, and my family really liked it.
Amen to that. It's one of my favorites.
I had a friend read it at the funeral for my husband.
i listened to this poem on a loop while writing my application for an internship. it might seem strange but i just needed a reminder of my “place in family of things” because i have an unfortunate tendency to assign my worth to silly things like career milestones. but this poem reminds me that my worth is innate and hearing this over and over eased my anxiety while i worked on a very daunting task. And now, a month and half later, I just got an email saying I was accepted into the internship program. Mary Oliver’s words remind me everyday that i do not have to be perfect, I just have to show up as myself and that is enough. life is beautiful when you “let the soft animal of your body love what it loves”, surrender to the beautiful chaos of life, and relish your place in it.
“The world offers itself to your imagination”. Right on Mary. Right on.
Everything we need to know is in this poem. Extraordinary.
Extraordinary
One of the most amazing poets of our time. I love you, 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 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.
When I first read this poem, it was purely by accident. It was in one of my favorite compilations and I read it aloud to a group of friends. We were silent for a moment then we all seemed to agree with our body language that it touched all of us. I've read it many times since and read her stuff often.
Love this. It's my favourite poem. Heard it about 40 years ago & still touched every time I hear it ❤
Oh, thank you posting this. How lovely ...
Thank you so much for posting this! This is so wonderful to hear in her own voice. But please correct the transcription of the poem. Please strike “your” in this line: “... tell me about ‘your’ despair, yours, And I will tell you mine....” I believe someone has transcribe this poem incorrectly online and others keep picking it up and repeating the error! I have found it over and over again online. This is unfortunate. As with all great poems, not a syllable is out of place in Mary Oliver’s original. And this is truly a great poem. Please correct it! Thank you again.
That is the author, Mary Oliver, reading her own poem.
Oh, I see, in the transcription.
You are able to delete your own comment should you wish. Took me a while to work out both comments are yours. As a side note, Helena Bonham Carter reads this and surprised me, that I prefer her voice. The timbre, for me, is more, somehow. @@dianedavidson5283
this poem is so beautiful
This one poem works better than a year of depression pills…
Amazing !!!!
i’m so glad i came across this
I love this poem
Anyone else here from The Wild Unknown Archetype Oracle deck? XIX The Animal 🐺🙌
It’s on my death disc, to be read at my funeral
Oliver is very goood man 🙋♂️
💜💜💜
♥ 🌹 ♥
Skip. Boring and crapola poetry.