Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

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, 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.

One of our mice died this morning at like 5 am. Mike was doing a paper in Salisbury and his roommate's cat got his paw in their cage and clawed her in the tummy. I think Mike was trying to be kind by not telling me how bad it was. She would walk around the cage for a bit and then go and hide away in the log house. Then he said that she just laid down on her tummy and then on her side and at first she was breathing heavy but then it just slowed down and she passed away. I was crying pretty hard when I found out she got hurt. I knew she would eventually die but it's not fair that she had to suffer and be in pain. There was nothing that Mike could do for her, so I told him to just leave her alone in the cage so she could at least have her sister with her when she passed. She was the sweetest little girl. I can't help but feel contempt for the cat, but I do realize he was just acting on instinct. Some people would probably say that it's silly for me to cry over a mouse but Mike and I love them very much. They are like our children and we've had then since the beginning of our relationship and it took forever to pick out the perfect 2 and then it took even longer to name them. They're such beautiful and sweet little creatures. It's really just hard to know you can't do anything to stop her pain or to help her. And now her sister is alone and I can't help but wonder if she understands. The whole thing has really made me think about death, humans will to control, and suffering. Every time something bad happens or someone/something dies I can't help but question God. You would think that God wouldn't let the ones that he loves suffer so much. I don't think that I have ever really heard of something dying and not suffering through it. Anyway, just think about it.