usually i feel i have to write my own words here. but today is mary oliver's birthday and this poem about, the journey, finding your voice, your own unique life, is one of my favorite ever poems. some how my whole life seems bound in these words. today i am in peru and i have lost my voice. in the beginning of this journey i dreamt that to find the light really we would have to clean ourselves thoroughly, drop heavy energy, go through the obstacles, and so the obstacles are presenting themselves and all i feel is a huge SOARING joy.
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.
© Mary Oliver. Online Source