...the family of things

parable

rooted in the profound yet simple experience

of loving and living

feeling and being

trying and reaching, and resting

listen

for the natural rhythm

of existence

breathing in

breathing out

gently merging

with the breath,

being breathed,

aaah, pure bliss

a dance 

with your greatest gift

~mh

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.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver