This past week, the weather took a turn toward spring. And just as soon as daytime temps climbed above the teens and low 20s, my daughter Simi and I saw them: the wild geese returning home. They reminded us both of this poem by Mary Oliver, and since it is Simi’s favorite, I asked her if she would like to write this post. These are her thoughts on the season and poem:

Thoughts on “Wild Geese” by Simi Smith-Paríolá

The sun is out again! Walking outside this past week has been such a blessing. You just don’t realize how much you’ve missed not having to put on five layers every time you step outside until it finally hits 50 degrees again. With the return of green buds and sunshine after a long, dark, and frigid winter, something else comes, too: geese!

 In a time when protecting wildlife is more important than ever, this poem offers us a vital reminder of the beauty and wonder of nature, and how everyone, despite everything, is accepted and embraced by it.

Wild Geese

by Mary Oliver (1935-2019)

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.

Originally published in the collection, Dream Work (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986).