Starlings in Winter, Mary Oliver (excerpt)

Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,

even in the lifeless winter,

even in the ashy city.

I am thinking now,

of grief, and getting past it;

I feel my boots

trying to leave the ground,

I feel my heart pumping hard. I want

to think again of dangerous and noble things

I want to be light and frolicsome

I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing

as though I had wings.

Mary Oliver