The Journey

Read a new poem the other day and it is short so I thought I'd post it here for anyone who needs encourgement in a new endeavor. It is called "The Journey" by a contemporary poet, Mary Oliver.

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 that you could save.

I LOVE this poem! It speaks to me especially now as I begin what I think I've wanted to do when I grow up.
But it can be applied to anything we do that is a little bit outside our traditional confines. And, to know that it is okay to let those little voices (some from our outside world and some from our mind) fade into the background for awhile is so reassuring.

Big day today... Huge day for our country I think. Both candidates should be inspirations for us, surely their houses have trembled in the past two years.

And, while 'it is already late enough' for our country to be electing either a 'senior citizen' or a black man, it is not too late.

GO VOTE!