> [!QUOTE] Poem > > # *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. > > — [[Mary Oliver]]