But I also say this: that light is an invitation to happiness, and that happiness, when it's done right, is a kind of holiness, palpable and redemptive.
Mary OliverIsn’t it wonderful the way the world holds both the deeply serious, and the unexpectedly mirthful?
Mary OliverI wanted to hurry into the work of my life; I wanted to know, whoever I was, I was alive for a little while.
Mary OliverWhen it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it is 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.
Mary Oliver