a poem by Mary Oliver
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began
through the voices around you
kept shouting their bad advice–
through 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 too late
enough, and a wild nigh,
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
recognised 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.
This poem was chosen by Clinical Lead, Judy Crawley at Birmingham Counselling Services.
Find more on Mary Oliver and her work at maryoliver.beacon.org