The Journey, a poem by Mary Oliver.

Post 610 - Mary Oliver (born in 1935) is an American poet who has won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The New York Times described her as "far and away, this country's best-selling poet." Oliver briefly attended both Ohio State University and Vassar College in the mid-1950s, but did not receive a degree at either college. She’s since received Honorary Doctorates from The Art Institute of Boston, Dartmouth College, and Tufts University.
Oliver has given very few interviews, saying she prefers for her writing to speak for itself. While she’s produced many memorable poems, this is one of my favorites.

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.