#Napodpomo 2/30. READING POETRY: “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver

From Cork With Love - by Paul O'Mahony · Nov 2, 2025 · 7m

You hear a recording of Mary Oliver reading her poem Wild Geese. You hear Paul O’Mahony reading her poem, twice.

This is the poem:

“

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…