A thoughtful day

Yay! I managed the walk round the block, first time for over a week, half a mile taking in fields with horses, a view of Midhurst and lots of signs of spring like these primroses turning their faces to the sun.

Today I was looking for a poem for a bereaved friend and turned to the poet Mary Oliver who has a beautiful way with words. I came across this line -

“I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.”

Pondering on the words, I decided no way have I just been visiting this world, I’ve participated and enjoyed as much as I can. It’s something of a revelation, to view life like this, to realise that some people do indeed just visit. Nothing wrong with that, if that’s how it is for you, but when I find joy in the simplest things I feel more real, more alive, even in the midst of sickness. 

 From When Death Comes

When it's over, I want to say all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

  

The poetry of Mary Oliver is a splendid antidote to the excess of civilization.
~ Harvard Magazine