Undefined

"To live in this world

you must be able

to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it

against your bones knowing

your own life depends on it;

and, when the time comes to let it go,

to let it go."

-Mary Oliver

..........

Maeve got me this book for Christmas: New and Selected Poems: Volume One, by Mary Oliver. From the moment I opened it, I was flooded with pages upon pages of genuine poetic beauty, for lack of better phrasing. Of course, me being me, I read all 255 pages in one sitting, preventing me from finishing any of my homework that night (although I'm pretty sure we all know which the real priority was...).

If you answered homework, you're wrong.

I wasted no time in highlighting my absolute favorite parts and will most likely be quoting her poems obnoxiously in the posts to come. No, I'm not sorry.

Nonetheless, the words above really struck me. Now, before I turn into some corny mushy cliche mess, I just thought I'd give you guys a heads up. Cue the head's up.

Words stick to me. And whether that's a good thing or not, they stick either way. If something sparks my attention, it'll buzz and swirl and bump around the insides of my head all day, becoming a full-force tornado by night. It's almost as if each letter of each word blazed its individual torch, waiting 'till the insides of my head burst with light, flooding every nook and cranny with remarkable clarity. Mary Oliver sure got me thinking.

My dad once told me, "Maya, in the end, the only thing we have is our humanity".

Maybe this is just me, but I believe humans are hardwired to love. From the moment we are born, our lives are bubbling with passions, and hopes, and dreams, and aspirations, and it's like our entire being becomes that blazing torch. We're able to read, and swim, and run, and weep, and jump, and skate, and shout, and grieve, and cry, and whisper, and hug, and comfort, and shake, and dance, and plan, and hate, and decipher, and sew, and solve, and mend, and break, and hit, and groan, and sing, and bake, and act, and drive, and it's amazing how many of these things we do for love.

But as much as we are driven by our passions, we must also know that all good things come to an end. "Of course loss is the great lesson," is another line that comes to mind by Miss Oliver. Despite loving something or someone or somewhere with our entire being, there is a part of us that must come to terms with its eventual conclusion.

Being able to let it go is the hardest part. I'm sure we can all agree on that, as well.

I think the part we generally seem to neglect is even after that which we loved no longer is with us, that burning passion still had its time and place. It still existed.

Who are we if not the result of our passions?

The fireworks we'd chase after and the anchoring love we'd latch onto these things--that all is what I believe to be at the center of our humanity.

Stripped down to our core, when we are bare, we are souls.

Hasta la próxima,

Much love xoxo

Maya