This poem was given to me by my foster children's counselor when she saw that I was burning out. I have been told by too many lately that I "cannot save the world." But I was determined to save those I can in my little corner. This has become detrimental to my own sanity and well being. One cannot help others if one is also broken. So I printed this poem and framed it. I hung it where I could read it daily. It has helped immensely.
I hope that it can help someone else also...
Love and peace,
Singing Hawk
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.
