Elizabeth

“For years and years I struggled
just to love my life. And then

the butterfly
rose, weightless, in the wind.
"Don't love you life
too much," it said,

and vanished
into the world.”
― Mary Oliver, Dream Work

“When it over, I want to say:all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it's over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular,and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

from "When the death comes”
― Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems, Volume One

“You'll hit gold more often if you simply try out a lot of things.”
― Ira Glass

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
-Mary Oliver
"The Summer Day”
― Cheryl Strayed, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail