A few weeks ago I started hearing the distant, doleful sounds of geese flying overhead. They're already heading south. Early, it seems. What do they know that we don't? With the incredibly atypical weather we had last year, I'm wondering if perhaps we will be clobbered this coming winter?
In honor of the the intrepid travelers heading away from New Hampshire, I offer you this poem by Mary Oliver from Dream Work (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986):
Wild Geese
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.
The geese are heading home? Where is home? North or south? Does it matter?
I have written some poems inspired by wild geese (who hasn't?), this one I posted in 2009, and this haiga is from 2010.
Here's a geese-related comic from Harry Bliss.
Today's Round-Up is taking place at Write. Sketch. Repeat., and next week, the Poetry Friday Round-Up will be held right here!
Hiroshige print courtesy Library of Congress.
Oh, I do love Mary Oliver and haven't read this one. It's just lovely. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't read it before either, but it seems so hopeful, and I like that.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't read this one either - it's wonderful and makes me smile. Thanks for sharing, and for the perfect art to go with it. Loved clicking over to your previous geese-themed offerings, too.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep an eye out down here for your flock that's already departed up there...
Love the photo and the poem. My favorite line is this:
ReplyDeleteWhoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
Thank you for sharing this lovely "wild geese" post. :)
Thanks, ladies. There will probably be a steady stream of geese for the next two months. I'll surely write another wild geese poem before the snow.
ReplyDeleteLove all the fall topics that are popping up in Poetry Friday -- like the flying geese. Summer must be over *sigh.*
ReplyDeleteThank you for the gift of Mary Oliver. This is one of my favorites of hers. Especially
ReplyDelete"You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves."
and
"the world offers itself to your imagination,"
"soft animal of your body" certainly gets your attention, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteViolet, summer's not quite over until the heat and humidity pass. I've had enough of it!
Wow, Diane! Fabulous poem. A great poem for someone starting a new journey . . .
ReplyDeleteGood geese poems of your own, too, and I love the cartoon.
ReplyDelete