You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life –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 that 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
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
