'one day you finally knew'

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 you could save.

          - Mary Oliver

I first read that poem over a decade ago, having discovered it in an issue of Oprah's magazine. I cut out the poem and saved it for years, tucked into a book. It fluttered to my feet last February, as I was selling off everything I owned. I saved it then, and brought it with me in the move.

Today I discovered a new blog, by a woman in a place in life that is similar to mine. 
Reading her posts is much like listening to myself talk about my life for the past 32 years. I found the poem in one of her posts... and it resonates with me as deeply now as it did before. Perhaps, given the situations and circumstances I have faced over the past year, two years, and decade, even more so.

Yes, indeed... one day. One day is often all it takes to know what you need to do. One day that your eyes finally open and see. I am not sure where that piece of paper with the poem on it is right now, but after reading her post, I am going to find it and place it where I can see it every single day.