a mary oliver poem for you....

years ago, when i was still pretty new
at the being on my own stuff, someone
sent me this poem. i remember little shots
of electricity runnin' down me when i read
it for the first time.

since then, i've seen it here and there.
haven't really stopped to take it in like
that first time.

last nite, it was in the book i'm reading.

funny.
when i first read it,it was about going out
on my own and starting my new life.

now i've kinda gotten used to bein' on my
own....i wouldn't think it would really fit
any more.

but now as i look at it with the eyes of
someone goin' on the midlife adventure, it
has meaning for me all over again....
wanted to share...


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


i so so dig ms. oliver~!