IF YOU SUDDENLY and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
Editor’s note: Issue 24 of ArtDesk is dedicated to the notion of JOY. To learn more about our organizing principle, see the Magic Eight sidebar.
“Don’t Hesitate” from the volume Swan by Mary Oliver, published by Beacon Press, Boston. Copyright © 2010 by Mary Oliver, used herewith by permission of the Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency.