Summary

Summary

The poem begins with an unnamed speaker refuting the general pressure to "be good" or to be perfect (1). Addressing the reader, the speaker insists that it is unnecessary to walk on your knees "for a hundred miles through the desert repenting" to prove your worth (3). The phrase "you do not have to" changes to "you only have to" as the speaker instructs the reader to "let the soft animal of your body / love what it loves" (4-5). The speaker invites the reader to talk about his or her despair, and the speaker will do the same.

In the next part of the poem, the speaker points out that "the world goes on" despite individual human suffering (7). The sun and the "clear pebbles of the rain" continue to move across different landscapes (8). These landscapes include prairies, deep trees, mountains, and rivers.

The speaker...