Tag: Wild Geese

Quote for the Day: March 23rd, 2024

Free for use under the Pixabay Content license. Image credit: JillWellington

Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?

from “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver, in her poetry collection Dream Work

“Wild Geese” was one of the first poems by Mary Oliver that I ever encountered, and I’ve been a disciple of hers ever since. She exists in my mind among the world’s greatest writers, living or dead (she passed away in 2019). I carry the words of “Wild Geese” always in my heart, as an urgent reminder of not just my mortality but my own unique aliveness. There are things we are all given to do, and if one is really lucky (my mother hates the word lucky, so for her I will leave the word blessed here), they’re allowed to share what they’ve been given to others. This is the sole purpose and the grand design of all artistic creation.

There are things we are all given to do, and if one is really lucky (my mother hates the word lucky, so for her I will leave the word blessed here), they’re allowed to share what they’ve been given to others. This is the sole purpose and the grand design of all artistic creation.

I just realized the poem I pulled today’s quote from talks about geese and the picture I’ve provided is of a tit. I think I’ll let it stand.

Thanks as always for being a faithful reader of The Voracious Bibliophile. If you like what you see, please like, comment, follow, and subscribe to my email list to get notified of new posts as soon as they drop. You can also email me at fred.slusher@thevoraciousbibliophile.com or catch me on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest @voraciousbiblog. Keep reading the world, one page (or pixel) at a time.

Poem for the Day: August 28th, 2021

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. 

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.