“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, “Dream Work”
Dr Bill Wooten 
beautiful poem 🙂
I love this poem! Too often I think people feel that they shouldn’t enjoy life fully because there is so much suffering — they worry too much. I agree — lets enjoy!! Also wanted to thank you for all of the positive and inspirational messages you post!! ~Sherry~
Thanks Sherry for the kind words. Take care, Bill
Beautiful–I especially love this passage: “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-“
How I will never tire reading such poem.
Gorgeous.
This is one of my all time favorite poems. This is what got me interested in Mary Oliver. I re-read it all the time when I need to be reminded of my “place in the family of things” 🙂