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.

And now you’re determined
to stride beyond this world
through the sheets of clouds
towards the stars
where your voice will wave along possibly
forever

of course, I want to reach the stars too
but maybe not those stars
and maybe not in that spacecraft
maybe in a one-way-only type of rocket
or maybe in nothing at all
maybe reaching is not the point
maybe the trajectory is
maybe the flicker is
maybe you are

but what if you’re sucked into
a black hole
or picked up, hitchhiking
or if the star burns out, if it supernovas?
will the night become dark?
or will there be other stars?
should there be other stars
I don’t know

but I do know that the flicker is there
and perhaps that’s enough
don’t try to grab it don’t try to reach it
don’t try to bottle it or package it or even science it
just let it shine
for a while
and hope
it’s enough
to help
light the path