Friday, April 16, 2010

Crazy dream and a poem.

























I had this crazy dream last night of being taking over by waves on a stormy beach along with a huge flock of birds. I was with friends and no matter what, nature kept taking over, stealing our attention from our chatting. We would scoot further and further back until finally all we could do was leave the beach. In my waking life, I have a strange relationship with the ocean. To me it represents fear and love. I love it with a passion and fear it in the same intensity. It compels me to test my limits. I have almost died in the surf and I have been completed held and nurtured by the waves as well. When I was pregnant with my first, I had dreams of standing in the surf as the waves hit my feet and every time a wave crashed by my feet, everyone on the beach cheered and clapped and said " It's a girl!" or "It's a boy!!!"with each fizzling tide. Pregnancy is all about love and fear, as is parenting isn't it? Last night's dream is about a different tide turning in our lives. It wasn't fear that made me leave the beach, it was just survival. It's nice to remember that I am small in a bigger picture of natural forces and I don't need to be taken over by them, I can just walk away... It's comforting and empowering.
Anyway. I thought I would leave you this weekend with a great poem that a dear friend gave me not too long ago. It is one that reminds me that I am just a small part of the large world of creatures.. what a relief.
Anne


Wild Geese 

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.

Mary Oliver

2 comments:

Carol said...

Amazing--all of it! I feel full. Thank you Anne.

Unknown said...

love this. thanks for posting it.