The 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 despair, yours, and I'll tell you mine.
But meanwhile the world goes on...
Meanwhile the sun and the soft pebbles of 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 again,
announcing your place in the family of things.