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Rin ⭐️'s Reviews > Upstream: Selected Essays

Upstream by Mary Oliver
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“In the beginning I was so young and such a stranger to myself I hardly existed. I had to go out into the world and see it and hear it and react to it, before I knew at all who I was, what I was, what I wanted to be.�

“And that I did not give to anyone the responsibility for my life. It is mine. I made it. And can do what I want to with it. Give it back, someday, without bitterness, to the wild and weedy dunes.�

“Sometimes the desire to be lost again, as long ago, comes over me like a vapor. With growth into adulthood, responsibilities claimed me, so many heavy coats. I didn’t choose them, I don’t fault them, but it took time to reject them. Now in the spring I kneel, I put my face into the packets of violets, the dampness, the freshness, the sense of ever-ness. Something is wrong, I know it, if I don’t keep my attention on eternity. May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful. May I stay forever in the stream. May I look down upon the windflower and the bull thistle and the coreopsis with the greatest respect.�
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Reading Progress

November 8, 2024 – Started Reading
November 20, 2024 – Finished Reading
December 18, 2024 – Shelved
December 18, 2024 – Shelved as: want-to-own
December 18, 2024 – Shelved as: read-but-don-t-own
December 18, 2024 – Shelved as: ڲ-Ǵǰ-كتبي-المفضل
December 18, 2024 – Shelved as: 2024-books
December 18, 2024 – Shelved as: كتب-غير-روائيةԴDz-ھپDz
December 18, 2024 – Shelved as: ǰ-ٴǰ-قصص-قصيرة
December 18, 2024 – Shelved as: DZٰ-شعر

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