Things take the time they take. don't worry. How many roads did St. Augustine follow before he became St. Augustine?

Mary Oliver

Categorized in : Worry Augustine

Rhythm is one of the most powerful of pleasures, and when we feel a pleasurable rhythm we hope it will continue. When it does, it grows sweeter.

powerful doe writing

When death comes…. I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering: what it’s going to be like, that cottage of darkness? And therefore I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and I look upon time as no more than an idea, and I consider eternity as another possibility, and I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy, and as singular, and each name a comfortable music in the mouth, tending, as all music does, toward silence, and each body as a lion of courage, and something precious to the earth. [from the poem "When Death Comes"]

sisterhood flower thinking

I have a little dog who likes to nap with me. He climbs on my body and puts his face in my neck. He is sweeter than soap. He is more wonderful than a diamond necklace, which can't even bark.

necks dog naps

And I do not want anymore to be useful, to be docile, to lead / children out of the fields into the text / of civility, to teach them that they are (they are not) better than the grass.

fields want children

In your hands The dog, the donkey, surely they know They are alive. Who would argue otherwise? But now, after years of consideration, I am getting beyond that. What about the sunflowers? What about The tulips, and the pines? Listen, all you have to do is start and There’ll be no stopping. What about mountains? What about water Slipping over rocks? And speaking of stones, what about The little ones you can Hold in your hands, their heartbeats So secret, so hidden it may take years Before, finally, you hear them?

rocks dog hands

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? / Am I no longer young, and st... by Mary Oliver

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? / Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect?

boots half perfect

It doesn't have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don't try to make them elaborate, this isn't a contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak.

weed voice blue

Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled---to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world.

weight want world

We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for i... by Mary Oliver

We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for is happiness.

hungry hunger heart

Of course! The path to heaven doesn't lie down in flat miles. It's in the imagination with which you perceive this world, and the gestures with which you honor it.

imagination heaven lying

You want to cry aloud for your mistakes. But to tell the truth the world doesn't need any more of that sound.

sound mistake needs

Sunrise What is the name of the deep breath I would take over and over for all of us? Call it whatever you want, it is happiness, it is another one of the ways to enter fire.

sunrise fire names

Joy is not made to be a crumb. (Don't Hesitate) by Mary Oliver

Joy is not made to be a crumb. (Don't Hesitate)

crumbs made joy

Every word is a messenger. Some have wings; some are filled with... by Mary Oliver

Every word is a messenger. Some have wings; some are filled with fire; some are filled with death.

messengers fire wings

In college, you learn how to learn. Four years is not too much ti... by Mary Oliver

In college, you learn how to learn. Four years is not too much time to spend at that.

four college years

My work is the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird - equal seekers of sweetness. Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.

sunflower plums blue

Every morning I walk like this around the pond, thinking: if the doors of my heart ever close, I am as good as dead.

heart morning thinking

You may not agree, you may not care, but if you are holding this book you should know that of all the sights I love in this world — and there are plenty — very near the top of the list is this one: dogs without leashes.

dog sight book

Today I am altogether without ambition. Where did I get such wisd... by Mary Oliver

Today I am altogether without ambition. Where did I get such wisdom?

ambition today

Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?

how-precious-life-is lasts done