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 acrross 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.
— Marry Oliver
Already, I feel as if this is the path for me. I feel at home on it already, and am filled with hope and an even greater desire to keep pursuing this. I can be who and what I am here, free of guilt. The first Gwers was inspiring, and I wrote a great deal in the journal I have decided to keep (at the suggestion to do so in the "Practicum"). "Three followers of wisdom: imagination, purpose and endeavour" - I believe I will experience these on this long road. Definitely going to sign up for the full bardic course as soon as possible.
Yes it is indeed a beautiful poem and still moves me whenever I read it. Enjoy your path. 
