Mary Oliver

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Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift

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You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life

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When it's over, I want to say: all my lifeI 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 wonderif 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

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To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work

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The Uses Of Sorrow(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)Someone I loved once gave mea box full of darkness.It took me years to understandthat this, too, was a gift