The dream of my life
is to lie down by a slow river
and stare at the light in the trees—
to learn something by being nothing
a little while but the rich
lens of attention.
Mary Oliver, in “Entering the Kingdom”, in Devotions
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don't hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that's often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don't be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
when jenny slate said “I realize I want to hear my voice and only mine. Not the voice of my voice within a cacophony of old pains. Just mine, now.” and when toni morrison said “I want to feel what I feel. What’s mine. Even if it’s not happiness, whatever that means. Because you’re all you’ve got.” and when mary oliver said
“I dip my cupped hands. I drink a long time. It tastes like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold into my body, waking the bones. I hear them deep inside me, whispering oh what is that beautiful thing that just happened?”