Mary Oliver's Brilliant "The Journey" is Just the Beginning

What happens after you save yourself?

Road with Cypress and Star, also known as Country Road in Provence by Night, by Vincent van Gogh. 1890.

I respectfully pick up the pen where Mary Oliver set it down. Here is her magnificent poem:

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 here is my homage, answering the question, “then what?”

Companion for the Journey, by Mary Poindexter McLaughlin

Those stars that guide
are bright indeed,
shining for all they’re worth
as I leave behind
tugs and advice,
a Hollywood ending in action:
striding out of the house
in true romantic fashion,
except for not saving the town
or the world,
but just myself.
The gallant image
that propelled me into the night
is losing its luster
as miles accumulate
on this cold, dark highway.
And though burning stars
do light my path
no one would call them sociable.
My own voice
turns out to be poor company
for this long haul.
Perhaps you too
feel the unique melancholy
of a solo trudge?
Walk with me.
Tell me your story
and I will tell you mine
as we make our starlit way
side by side,
around the stones
that cannot stop us,
through those fallen branches
that will not hush
our mingled voices
as we stride
to god only knows where.

---

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As always, keep your light shining bright.

xox
M