Saturday, December 4, 2010

Joy 68/82: Clarity

This is one of my very favorite poems as it describes so beautifully the journey from confusion to clarity.

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
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.

from New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver, Beacon Press, Boston, 1992


  1. Love the photo -- is it yours.

    This too is one of my very favourites -- and how perfect you shared it today as I have someone I need to share it with too and you reminded me!

  2. Thanks, Louise ... and it is my photo ... from a series of "poetry cards" I made some time ago.