CURRENT MOON

Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Journey By Mary Oliver


For all the women in the world who imagine they need to save everyone else first:

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.

3 comments:

Anne Johnson said...

Thanks to Hecate and Mary for throwing me a life preserver.

Anonymous said...

I really needed to read this today. Thank you for sharing it!

Blessings to you
now and always

Mama Kelly

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing. amazingly true poem.. both applicable to male and female though. Who is the poet?