The Journey ...

THE JOURNEY, by Mary Oliver

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
recognised 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.

This powerful poem by Mary Oliver fits in nicely with yesterday's blog, on following your own path through life... It shows how much courage and determination it can take to walk away from one path and carve out a new one... It can mean making hard decisions, leaving others behind, saying 'no', being 'selfish' .. but to be truly authentic, you need to be brave enough to make painful choices if it means saving your soul ... and being true to your self ...

What do you think?

Did the words of the poem inspire you?

Are you on the right path?

comments welcome!