be hugely and damply extravagant

'When the Roses Speak, I Pay Attention'

 

"As long as we are able to 

be extravagant we will be 

hugely and damply 

extravagant. Then we will drop 

foil by foil to the ground. This 

is our unalterable task, and we do it 

joyfully." 

 

And they went on. "Listen, 

the heart-shackles are not, as you think, 

death, illness, pain, 

unrequited hope, not loneliness, but 

 

lassitude, rue, vainglory, fear, anxiety, 

selfishness." 

 

Their fragrance all the while rising 

from their blind bodies, making me 

spin with joy. 

 

[Mary Oliver {1935-2019} 'When the Roses Speak, I Pay Attention', from Devotions: the selected poems]