Wild Geese

On the pond behind our house this morning…

Wild Geese!

They arrived yesterday and drove the little dogs next door crazy last evening (when the dogs were out on the neighbor’s deck that overlooks the pond). This morning I noticed that the geese were still here and decided to put the long lens on my camera and make some photographs of them through the living room window.

Oh joy! I know that they are as common as dandelions here in Minnesota. And they’re also often annoying. But the beauty of them and their grace is magnificent when I pay attention to them. Such joy!

And all of this brings me back to one of my favorite Mary Oliver poems, Wild Geese (are you tired of seeing Mary Oliver poems yet my friends?)

Wild Geese by 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 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 river.

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 live the wild geese, harsh and exciting —

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

May you feel your place today in the family of things.

May you walk in beauty.