I try to be good but sometimes a person just has to break out and act like the wild and springy thing one used to be. It's impossible not to remember wild an want it back.
Mary OliverRead
On the beach, at dawn: Four small stones clearly Hugging each other. How many kinds of love Might there be in the world, And how many formations might they make And who am I ever To imagine I could know Such a marvelous business? When the sun broke It poured willingly its light Over the stones That did not move, not at all, Just as, to its always generous term, It shed its light on me, My own body that loves, Equally, to hug another body.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the nature of love and the connections we make, comparing human love to the unity of stones on the beach.
Mary Oliver's quote explores the various forms love can take by observing four stones that appear to embrace each other on the beach. This imagery serves as a metaphor for the different expressions of love in the world, highlighting the idea that love is a natural and marvelous aspect of life, meant to be shared and cherished. Oliver contemplates her own capacity to understand love, recognizing it as a profound and beautiful phenomenon that connects all living beings.
Themes
LoveConnectionNatureBeautyHumility
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a wedding ceremony to emphasize the beauty of love.
More from Mary Oliver
All quotes →At the time I was growing up, literature was involved with the so-called confessional poets. And I was not interested in that. I did not think that specific and personal perspective functioned well for the reader at all.
Mary OliverRead
I know the sag of the unfinished poem. And I know the release of the poem that is finished.
Mary OliverRead
For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.
Mary OliverRead
If I have any lasting worth, it will be because I have tried to make people remember what the Earth is meant to look like.
Mary OliverRead
Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.
Mary OliverRead
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