wild stars

“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 do not have to

you do not have to

you do not have to

but don’t we anyways? try to be good? how much energy do we spend (waste)
how much do we hold back, conserve, out of fear
how we hide because we showed up sometimes and it went “wrong”...
someone didn’t like it. it hurt very much.

how we try try try to BE good
which is different from DOing good.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE GOOD.

you are called to be wild
you are called to be wild
because you are Nature who is wild.

you are a child of the stars 
and a child of the earth
where they come together, impossibly so,
into their endless destiny to desire each other.

you do not have to do what doesn’t work.
you do not have to be what others want you to be. 

it’s not about being “right”
it’s about being alive.

you do not have to apologize for things you did not do or were 
not your fault.
you do not owe any dues for existing.

you are creative.
you are creative Force
whose very heart beats because your genes
have a code that must express into flesh, bones, hunger.

and the world supports business as usual
more than it supports creative imaginators, visionaries.
but, you know what…
you are strong enough, stellar enough.

you CAN
heal
imagine
embody
create
birth
transition
take up space
thrive
see

and you will. and we will.
it’s not that your feelings
your sensitivities are too much.
it’s that the world is not enough.

but Earth is more than enough — she has more than one volcano.

you do not have to improve.
just heal.
understand. 
encourage.
BE. 

But don’t be good.

“Just keep going. No feeling is final.”

______________________________________
quotations belong to Mary Oliver + Rainer Maria Rilke