Wild Geese in Song
and Poetry

 

Wild Geese are rushing through the night

Walter Flex/Robert Götz 

Wild Geese are rushing through the night,
with shrill cry, northbound rangers.
Hazard awaits, take care your flight
And world is full of dangers.

 
Fly through the night-filled air my friends,
you squadron grey and mighty
Dawn breaks as battle cry extends
Far o'er the lands below ye.

 
Fly on, rush on, you grey-winget flight,
Rush on to Northlands safety
When you fly south again some night,
What will my fate have made me?

 
We are, as you, a gray-clothed pack,
The Kaiser's fighting yeomen.
Should our flight end with no way back,
Fly south and sound our Amen.
The Poem:
"Wild Geese"
was written by Mary Oliver,
one of America's foremost poets and writers.
 Picture below

Mary Oliver was born on September 11, 1935 in Maple Heights, Ohio. Mary is the Author of several volumes of award-winning poetry and books. In 1984 she received the Pulitzer Prize for her book: " American Primitive" her honors are too numerous to mention here. She is one of the most gifted writers, poets and lecturers of all times and is affiliated with the faculty of Bennington College in Vermont.


Wild Geese
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 ony 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,  


Mary Oliver