My reason for creating this blog was as another means to express my thoughts and feelings as I travel along my journey of self-discovery and awareness. Since my health forced me to stop working some years ago, I have been battling to find a new path–one to replace the old. Each time that I think that I’ve made some progress, I find myself right back where I started. At times it feels that I will never find my way. This poem by Mary Oliver resonates with me and offers me hope.
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.
by Mary Oliver
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