Soft trails and thorns

If it is your nature

to be happy

you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination

alighting everywhere. And if your spirit

carries within it

the thorn

that is heavier than lead ---

if it's all you can do

to keep on trudging ---

there is still

somewhere deep within you

a beast shouting that the earth

is exactly what it wanted ---

each pond with its blazing lilies

is a prayer heard and answered

lavishly, every morning,

whether or not

you have ever dared to be happy, whether or not

you have ever dared to pray.

- Mary Oliver