One day you finally knew <br />what you had to do, and began, <br />though the voices around you <br />kept shouting <br />their bad advice-- <br />though the whole house <br />began to tremble <br />and you felt the old tug <br />at your ankles. <br />"Mend my life!" <br />each voice cried. <br />But you didn't stop. <br />You knew what you had to do, <br />though the wind pried <br />with its stiff fingers <br />at the very foundations, <br />though their melancholy <br />was terrible. <br />It was already late <br />enough, and a wild night, <br />and the road full of fallen <br />branches and stones. <br />But little by little, <br />as you left their voices behind, <br />the stars began to burn <br />through the sheets of clouds, <br />and there was a new voice <br />which you slowly <br />recognized as your own, <br />that kept you company <br />as you strode deeper and deeper <br />into the world, <br />determined to do <br />the only thing you could do-- <br />determined to save <br />the only life you could save.<br /><br />Mary Oliver<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-journey/
