A tonic for the soul

[Therivercontinueson]

I came across this poem a long while ago and it recently found it's way back to me. Wanted to share here in case it helps someone else too around going NC.

"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."


-Mary Oliver
The Journey

[bloomie]

Therivercontinueson - this is beautiful and ends with such a picture of renewal and hope. Thank you so much for sharing it with the community!

[Boat Babe]

This is a fantastic poem and really says it all about walking away from those who would engulf us. Mary Oliver also wrote beautiful Nature poems and I highly recommend her work.  Thanks for posting.

[monamurre]

I found this poem (or it found me) a few weeks after my uBPD mother died. I don't know if I've ever experienced a poem that so perfectly described my own experience and thoughts...it was as if Mary Oliver was a passenger in my head - eerie! I re-read this every month or so to remind myself where I came from and why I made the choices I did in the final months of my mom's life.

It certainly makes you think Mary Oliver must have known some folks with personality disorders!

[Srcyu]

That's beautiful and surely meant for people like us.
I'm going to google Mary Oliver, I've not heard of her before.

[Cat of the Canals]

I keep coming back to read this, and every time I do, I love it a little more. Thank you for sharing.

[Blueberry Pancakes]

Thank you for sharing. I never saw this before. By the second line, it resonated hugely with me regarding the time I went NC with my FOO. When you know, you know.

[Jolie40]

I like that poem! It took me years & years to find my voice. I was SO quiet when I met husband & rarely talked. Think I felt that I had nothing to say. Eventually, I learned that I do have opinions, do have things to share, & do have advice to give.
Now husband thinks I talk too much, lol.