The Poetry Show -- Epiphanies: Journeys of the Magi

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The Shining Star and God's Watchful Eye

 

 

The poetry of journeys has a long history and assumes many forms, some long and some short. TS Eliot, Mary Oliver, Nikki Giovanni, Joseph Brodsky, Rabindranath Tagore share their Hellos and Farewells Wednesdays 10 AM on player.enlightenradio.org Hosts: Janet Harrison, John Case This Episode Recorded Wednesday, Jan 8, 2025

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.

 

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