Maria gave me a couple of beautiful presents when we got married.

One of them is my wedding ring; another is the sterling silver money clip, one of the things in the world I most cherish.

It has a couple of lines from my favorite poem engraved on it.

It is miraculous, but I haven’t lost it.

The poem is from Mornings At Blackwater, a poem we had a friend read at our wedding. The poem is our anthem, our rallying call.

The engraved line reads, “and put your lips to the world, and live your life.”

This is our motto, this poem. It should fly on our flag.

Every time we sink or struggle or lapse into fear, we will read it off of the kitchen wall or on our phones, or in one of her books. We even made a special trip to Provincetown, Mass., Oliver’s longtime home, to find the pond and walk all around it.

“For years, every morning, I drank from Blackwater Pond.

It was flavored with oak leaves, and also, no doubt, the feet of ducks.

And always it assuaged me

from the dry bowl of the very far past.

What I want to say is

that the past is the past

and the present is what your life is,

and you are capable

of choosing what that will be

darling citizen.

So come to the pond,

or the river of your imagination,

or the harbor of your longing,

and put your lips to the world.

And live 

your life.”

—- Mary Oliver, Mornings At Blackwater.