Day 18: Poetry to Inspire 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 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. 

My husband took this photo of me 9 years ago, in one of our favorite wild places, Leadbetter State Park at the edge of the Long Beach Peninsula, WA. It takes someone else to love us unconditionally to see ourselves in a beautiful light doesn't it?
I often go back to this capture because he saw what I didn't. And often still can't: the wildness and beauty of me.
I've learned since then, that when the resistance is strong, that often means I need to keep going. And with the help of Someone other than me, walking alongside me, I can push aside those melancholy branches and find the starry night sky.