something from another vassar girl, by way of brandy belt

when it's over, i want to say: all my life i was a bride married to amazement. i was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. when it is over, i don't want to wonder if i have made of my life something particular, and real. i don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. i don't want to end up simply having visited this world. -mary oliver