turning/returning

At lunchtime today I took a walk to stretch my legs and rest my eyes. I walked up the beautifully-named Maidenbower Path which runs between Midpark Hospital, near the college, and Georgetown, through woods and farmland. I am sorry to say that this is the first time I have ever walked that way.
I was surprised to come across three sandstone way markers with a few words of poetry on each. This evening I found out who made them and why they are there. You can read about it HERE.
The Svalbard geese who have overwintered on the Solway will be returning to the Arctic next month.
I am reminded of one of my favourite poems of all time - "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver:

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.