Saturday, February 21, 2009

"You do not have to be good."























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.

From "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver. Read the rest of the poem at Poet Seers.


El descanso de la modelo, Antonio Cortina Farinós (1841-1890).
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4 comments:

  1. jmcleod76February 21, 2009 at 8:18 PM

    This has always been one of my favorites. Thanks.

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  2. BitterGraceFebruary 22, 2009 at 9:45 AM

    It is a wonderful poem. We can thank Bozo for reminding me yesterday of Mary Oliver in his comment on the hawk post.

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  3. AlyssaFebruary 22, 2009 at 1:16 PM

    One of my favorites as well--that particular line, in fact. Have you read her poem on White Flowers? It is fantastic.

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  4. chayaruchamaFebruary 22, 2009 at 5:20 PM

    Delightful.
    And that painting...oh, my.

    ReplyDelete