Poem

I came across this poem today:

• 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 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.

Moments

As I walked home tonight, I came across a cat that was sat at the edge of a garden. She looked at me with total serenity and peacefulness...I could swear she was smiling at me! And you know what? In that brief moment of 'communion' with that animal I was lifted and a smile broadened across my face. It was a moment of pure bliss. And it occurs to me that these moments are to be found everywhere in our daily lives, if only we stopped and paid attention more often. These small moments of grace are strewn all along our paths, waiting for us to notice them and to let ourselves be uplifted.