By Mary Oliver.
I Worried
I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?
Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.
Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?
Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.
October 5, 2024
Oh, my, I could/should have written this!
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I love this. Thank you for sharing it.
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“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34
“Sufficient unto the day is the evil within.”
…worrying is a nonproductive activity.
Yes.
Love this
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I love this. Mary Oliver was an amazing poet. One of my favorites was “Wild Geese”. Thanks for reminding me to stop worrying. I thought about you this morning as I woke up and thought, “I can decide how I feel today.”
I hadn’t read that one. Thank you.
Thank you for this.
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Isn’t Mary Oliver just the greatest?! This is such a good reminder – worry just doesn’t do anybody any good.
Yes.
I needed to see this! It’s going in my treasure box (aka, daddy’s old cigar box) this morning.
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Very nice!
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We can all sing; just nobody wants to hear some of us.
My favorite worry quote is: Worry is like a rocking chair–lots of action that gets you nowhere.
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I love her and have one of her books. This one is SO right!!!
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Something we all need to be reminded about.
Woos – Misty and Timber
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Seems like 99 times out of 100 worrying doesn’t do any good.
Mary Oliver is so good. 🙂
There’s also the saying, “Do the work of worrying.” That applies when there is something you can do about the situation. Often there isn’t except to cultivate inner strength.