"The Journey" by Mary Oliver

[monamurre]

I'm not sure a more perfect poem for me has ever been written. Thank you Mary Oliver. I hope this poem speaks to some of you as it did to me.

Mary Oliver - "The Journey"
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voice behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life that you could save.

[IsleOfSong]

Thank you for reminding me of this terrific poem (and poet). Much appreciated.

[JustKeepTrying]

Beautiful and evocative

[SonofThunder]

+1 to both IoS and JKT's previous comments.  Thanks for sharing the poem!

SoT

[bloomie]

Beautiful! Really speaks to me right now in this moment! Thank you!

[hhaw]

This poem really speaks to the difficulty of changing people pleasing/codependent patterns FOR me.

It's difficult to stop paying attention to the voices and reacting to them.

When I manage it, everything changes.  Such a simple thing, but old reactivity pulls like a rip tide.

[Dragonfly]

  I love this poem! Thank you for sharing - i printed it out for future reference