08/03/2022
This poem by Mary Oliver is a beautiful expression of our journey to find what is right for us, to continue even if there is voices within and without, contradicting, to follow intuition even if it is hard to do so.
Pregnancy and Birth is a journey in which this journey condenses, becomes more pronounced and important.
Its not only our journey that matters, it is the Baby's start of life, their transition from within to without, their introduction to the world, which we influence by our decisions.
The more we are able to courageously stay in loving connection with our child and the world and act from a place of inner knowing, the more we will both grow along the journey, and the more Birth and life will unfold around us in the right way.
The Journey
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.
Mary Oliver
