We do share this planet. Sometimes - too often - it is easy to forget this. We do share the earth. We do share the sky. We do share the oceans and rivers. We do share the air that we breathe.
Today - for a moment - it was easier for me to remember. Wild geese and humans, each desiring a safe return home. A moment. A flow-flow on the air current. A slight turn. A flap-flap of wings. A miraculous landing. Safe returns for some.
Tonight the homeless children I work with delighted in sharing. Feathers. Stickers. Paintbrushes. It didn't really matter what. They had the experience of feeling good while relating in this new way. It was a game. They felt connected. Seen. Wanting to share is unusual for them. Their lives are rich in scarcity.
I think of the Middle East. Africa. I know I sound ridiculously naive, but my aching heart begs can't we just share?
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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.
from Dream Work by Mary Oliver
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