Ive been moving a little to the music while I worked and then I realize I am actually dancing. It feels wonderful, though I can feel how stiff my muscles are, how rigidly Ive been holding myselfMostly Ive been moving cautiously, numbly, steeled because I know, at any moment, I may be ambushed by overwhelming grief. You never know when its coming, the word or gesture or bit of memory that dissolved you entirelyIt happens every day at first, then not for a day or two, then theres a week when grief washes in every morning, every afternoon.
beauty dancing grief grieving happiness joy loss

About This Quote

About Mark Doty

Mark Doty was a contemporary American poet and memoirist. Mark Doty is an American poet and memoirist best known for his work My Alexandria. He was the winner of the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Beauty — Appreciating aesthetics, grace, and the sublime
  • Happiness — Thoughts on finding joy, contentment, and fulfilment

More quotes by Mark Doty

“Love, I think, is a gateway to the world, not an escape from it.”
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“What did you think, that joy / was some slight thing?”
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“And, I think, this greening does thaw at the edges, at least, of my own cold season. Joy sneaks in: listening to music, riding my bicycle, I catch myself feeling, in a way thats as old as I am but ...”
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beauty death joy life

“Desire I think has less to do with possession than with participation, the will to involve oneself in the body of the world, in the principle of things expressing itself in splendid specificity, a ...”
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desire joy life love
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