Hermitage Meditation January 25, 2025
by Anne Arseneau
The Kaddish is the Jewish prayer for those in mourning: May the great name of God be exalted and sanctified throughout the world, which He has created according to His will.
Sung in the home of our dear Hermitage friend Jim Messinger, loving husband and partner of Willa Cannon, who passed away January 21st
Before her death in 2019, the American poet Mary Oliver created a collection of poetry she called “Devotions”. Inspired by nature, she often combined the spiritual with the natural world. Nature’s endless cycle of death and rebirth fascinated the poet who took notice of what presented itself.
The poem Wild Geese reminds us that no matter the struggle, life goes on. We all deal with grief and adversity as it is part of life. Oliver suggests that we not worry so much about being good rather, we should be true to nature and the beauty found in it. The geese convey a sense of belonging and interconnectedness with the natural world. Our human suffering and vulnerability are universal experiences.
In literature, wild geese symbolize compassion, community and caring. Native American and Celtic traditions regard geese as spiritual messengers of wisdom. Our friend Jim shared all of these special gifts.
Wild Geese
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.
– Devotions by Mary Oliver