The poem
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.
what a joy to discover a contemporary American poet who speaks with that clear voice that shouts to us "wake up and live!" Her romanticism is clear, yet enveloped in a shroud of the unforgiving realities of our world and our complex lives, but by so doing, she reminds of the fundamentals: we cannot passively wait for the best of life to fall in our lap as if by some cosmic lottery.
There are yet sweet pipes temporarily hidden along life's rough roads and paths. Hear them somtimes shout, but often whisper - good advice - listen in the hush of night- Feel the fireside's warm glow - Sweet Pipe's voice may not at first be clear, but listen more intently - Your true love only YOU can search for and find -
i felt this poem was about survival. it represented a struggle to save ones self amid all worldly distractions. it emphasized only you could keep the pace, fight the battle, save yourself. i felt it represented a coming of realization for self preservation. when i read this, it described my emotional struggle to press on and then i would be victorious.
i first read this poem in Oprah and have never forgotten it.
This poem (given to me by a friend and fellow psychologist) epitomises the struggles, we as humans face in the journey of self-discovery. It speaks of the point some of us may reach in this journey when we recognise the need to let go of everything that constrains us and keeps our worlds small and insignificent. This may mean changing our relationships / jobs / homes and being honest about who we actually are for the first time in our lives. It may also mean feeling what we really feel for the first time and allowing ourselves to think what we have secretly always known to be true of ourselves all along and perhaps been too frightened to admit...
Oh what a joyful moving poem of self discovery and pushing past unwilling bonds of our society, breaking free of those unjust restraints of ill-will and feeling the breeze against the freedom of willpower. To me it represents the wonder of the mind and the metaphoric passage along the road of life and maturation.
The most moving line is when our passionate hero relizes his selfish truth of self companionship and private interests.
What did Einstein say? something about only life worth living?
I can't believe how much this poem relates to me and some past experiences I've had. I really like this poem and it was incredibly inspiring.
I'm sorry, but I really found this poem quite unprofessional and not worth reading. I sincerely hope that this comment will be posted and that not just praise is allowed. No offence to Mary Oliver, but I am quite a fond poetry reader and thought that this one was simply "faking" depth. What I mean is that she attempts to make her poem abstractly, meaningful and revelationary when really it is a weak attempt. I'm not…
Read the whole commentI'm sorry, but I really found this poem quite unprofessional and not worth reading. I sincerely hope that this comment will be posted and that not just praise is allowed. No offence to Mary Oliver, but I am quite a fond poetry reader and thought that this one was simply "faking" depth. What I mean is that she attempts to make her poem abstractly, meaningful and revelationary when really it is a weak attempt. I'm not sure why my views are not present within the other comments posted and perhaps I am the only one that thinks this way, I guess poetry is like that. Another fault i find with the poem is that it simply isn't really a poem, there is no rhyme(I know this isn't always necessary) or even any rhythm, it could just as easily be written in continuous prose and mean the same thing.
For me it is a poem about hope and courage and the experience of growing beyond a bad marriage or a painful childhood.
WOW! i just got no words to describe what this poem make me feel.its beautiful it changed my life.it make me see the diference between how im living and how i got to live i love it!!!!!!
The Journey
This Poem has being shouting at me for the past two years. When I first read it, a fire started to burn in my heart, but fear like the Poem say's held me back. The ripples of what other people thought, wispering their bad advice in order to keep their own world secure! So the fire has being flickering filling it with false abuses, not of the true self. Now I am in the process of answering the challange.It's frightening, but also a sence of some great cosmic force driving me to that place called truth.
I'm 13 and I read this poem for english class. At first I didn't understand the meaning of the poem, but I think she is trying to say that the inner demons within in you, and your fears keep you from becoming a better person, and moving forward in life. When she begins to hear her own voice she is motivated to save herself and get rid of all her problems that were holding her back?
The journey by Mary Oliver
This poem is about Codependancy and breaking free of the chains that hold you in looking out for others to the detriment of your own path and finding the journey towards self discovery. The more you look out for others needs and get involved in there control dramas the less time and energy you have to spend on finding your own energy and moving forward.
I think that this poem is about how you should believe in yourself, and not listen to others that are trying to put you down. I think it is also about finally leaving home and getting ready to go towards your future. I really liked this poem :)
We are not the one we used to think of
With tear drop to read this poem again and again. There is another me inside me and there is another voice beyond your openion to the public. The whole meaning of life is to find out what are truth of the "real me" and the "real voice". I am glad to see how we buddhist thinking has been disclosed in this poem.