This is Exactly the Life I want to Live

Exactly as it is beautiful

 

 

A friend has a tattoo on her forearm that reads: "This is exactly the poem I want to write."

Which translated to me as, "This is exactly the life I want to live."

Though I think it comes from a poem from Mary Oliver

"White Heron Rises Over Blackwater"

which stirred my thoughts.

Lucky to even think about how I want to live my life.

Lucky not to worry about basic needs, and live in peace.

If truth be told the only thing I would change (other than world peace, illness, hatred…) would be the miles between

my family/friends and my life in France.

 

—-

 

White Heron Rises Over Blackwater

 

 

"I wonder what it is that I will accomplish today

If anything can be called that marvelous word.

It won’t be

My kind of work, which is only putting words on a page,

The pencil

Haltingly calling up

The light of the world,

Yet nothing appearing on paper half as bright

As the mockingbird’s verbal hilarity

In the still unleafed shrub in the churchyard-

Or the white heron rising over the swamp and the darkness,

His yellow eyes and broad wings wearing

The light of the world in the light of the world-

Ah yes, I see him."

 

He is exactly the poem I wanted to write.

Mary Oliver

 

 



Comments

4 responses to “This is Exactly the Life I want to Live”

  1. Jacklynn Lantry

    Spectacular. Mary Oliver lived most of her adult life on Cape Cod, near where I live. Such a gigantic talent! She lived very humbly, in a typical “cape” style house. She wrote a poem about peonies (I had a peony farm) that brought me to my knees every time I read it. She put into words what it felt like to be in the field at dawn, sun coming up, fresh morning air swirling around me, pregnant blossoms swaying. I felt that poem in my heart and soul.
    If anyone would like to check it out: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/peonies/

  2. A wonderful poem. I do love Mary Oliver’s poetry. Yes, we must live the life we want to live.

  3. God’s greatest gift was our agency to choose, good/bad, sweet/sour, hot/cold, heaven or hell…. all of life is ultimately of our choosing. The deal is though, that so so many of us (too many of us) allow others to choose for us. Either through acquiescence, willingly, or as a result of a previous action.
    If we truly wish to live the life we want we must be constantly conscious of our current situation, and act/react in ways that will lead us to our goal.
    p.s. That PAINTING! mercy I love that colour and texture!

  4. Gotta love Mary Oliver.
    This post resonates with me, nodding and agreeing.
    Happy New Year, dear Corey.

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