Mary Oliver

And now I understand something so frightening, and wonderful — how the mind clings to the road it knows, rushing through crossroads, sticking like lint to the familiar.

Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled — to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world.

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

But also I say this: that light is an invitation to happiness, and that happiness, when it’s done right, is a kind of holiness.

Every day I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle in the haystack of light.