The Journey – by Mary Oliver

The Journey, by Mary Oliver – a biggie for me. Resonates deeply. Every day is a new start – a new facing off with the voices that shout their bad advice. I feel myself addressing those voices – thanking some for their past service, asking others to get the hell out and don’t come back, directing still others to go sit on the couch and take a nap for the afternoon. A conscious choice to move into a different flow with my own truest voice on the bullhorn. I’ve learned torecognize this true voice and keep it close and alive and flowing and welcomed. Determined to save it!

The video is Mary reading her poem aloud. Here is the text:

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 voices 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 you could save.