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Wild Geese

by Jenni Roditi

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about

Long Song for Voice and Piano

poem by Mary Oliver, 1986
music by Jenni Roditi, 2003
performed/recorded by JR 2004
producer Steve Parr, Hear No Evil Studio.
set to music with kind permission in 2002 of the author
iMovie version (Feb 2022) youtu.be/aEn8caGq36g
50% of each sale to estate of Mary Oliver.

lyrics

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting — over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

– Mary Oliver, 1986.

credits

released February 26, 2022

license

all rights reserved

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about

Jenni Roditi London, UK

Composer, Vocalist, Pianist, Vocal Improviser, Vocal Tai Chi, The Improvisers' Choir.

For tracks from The Improvisers' Choir please see theimproviserschoir.bandcamp.com

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