This poem/prayer from Mary Oliver
Thirst
“Another morning and I wake with thirst for the goodness I do not have. I walk out to the pond and all the way God has given us such beautiful lessons. Oh Lord, I was never a quick scholar but sulked and hunched over my books past the hour and the bell; grant me, in your mercy, a little more time. Love for the earth and love for you are having such a long conversation in my heart. Who knows what will finally happen or where I will be sent, yet already I have given a great many things away, expecting to be told to pack nothing, except the prayers which, with this thirst, I am slowly learning.”
Regarding the first line, the request to – “wake the thirst for goodness I do not have.” I might quibble a bit with that and suggest that the “thirst for goodness,” though perhaps latent, is always there, but perhaps that is wishful thinking. Yet what stays with me most, beyond the prayerful nature of this selection, is that last sentence:
“Who knows what will finally happen or where I will be sent, yet already I have given a great many things away, expecting to pack nothing, except the prayers which, with this thirst, I am slowly learning.”
“Who knows what will finally happen…pack nothing….I am slowly learning.” Indeed!
It occurs to me... 