What I Love About “Wild Geese”

First, please give the poem a read. Take your time, enjoy it.

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

Gosh, what can I say, I’ve got chills all over again.

“Wild Geese” serves as a poignant reminder of the temporal nature of difficulty. Despite our struggles, life persists. It acknowledges that grief and adversity are inevitable parts of existence, yet they do not halt our journey forward. 

There is also a message of comfort and unconditional belonging. Even in moments of disconnection and alienation, a gentle focus on nature can remind us of our inherent place in the world. It speaks to a primal longing for connection and reassurance while also offering agency to find that comfort at all times by simply looking deeper at the world around you. The poem invites us to relinquish the pursuit of perfection, to shed the constraints of expectation and embrace the endless offerings of life by just existing and being present.

What a comfort: to just be, to accept, and to be accepted.

Contributed by: Anonymous