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Poetry isn't a profession, it's a way of life. It's an empty basket; you put your life into it and make something out of that.

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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.

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Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.

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Animals praise a good day, a good hunt. They praise rain if they're thirsty. That's prayer. They don't live an unconscious life, they simply have no l...more

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

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To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it;...more

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To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.

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The Fourth Sign of The Zodiac (Part 3) by Mary OliverI know, you never intended to be in this world.But you’re in it all the same.So why not get start...more

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I wanted the past to go away, I wantedto leave it, like another country; I wantedmy life to close, and openlike a hinge, like a wing, like the part of...more

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I wanted the past to go away, I wanted to leave it, like another country; I wanted my life to close, and open like a hinge, like a wing, like the part...more

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MYSTERIES, YES Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood. How grass can be nourishing in the mouths of the lambs. How rivers and st...more

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I stood like Adam in his lonely gardenOn that first morning, shaken out of sleep,Rubbing his eyes, listening, parting the leaves,Like tissue on some v...more

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When it’s over, I want to say: all my lifeI was a bride married to amazement.I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.When it’s over, I don’t...more

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So come to the pond, or the river of your imagination, or the harbor of your longing,and put your lips to the world.And live your life.

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You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life.