hope and risk

I Don’t Want to Live a Small Life
By Mary Oliver

I don’t want to live a small life. Open your eyes,
open your hands. I have just come
from the berry fields, the sun

kissing me with its golden mouth all the way

(open your hands) and the wind-winged clouds
following along thinking perhaps I might

feed them, but no I carry these heart-shapes

only to you. Look how many small
but so sweet and maybe the last gift

I will bring to anyone in this

world of hope and risk, so do
Look at me. Open your life, open your hands.

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