Thanks for the poem Hilary, I agree it is powerful. I will look out for more of Mary Oliver`s poetry.

Hil, I thought the first half was written by Peter Crompton, I could hear his voice, great poem although the more I agree with it in principle the less I identify with it in practice.

Dave

This was the poem that changed my life.

It leapt off the page, grabbed me by the throat and made me realise that poetry had something to say.

Without this poem I would probably never have written any poetry

David

Actually Hilary, I thought she had got inside my head.

The other poem of hers which had a similar impact was "Wild Geese" - well worth a read.

David

Following on our thoughts about Mary Oliver I was inspired to write on the same subject. This is the result -

First I Dreamt The Journey

The mountains in the distance,
snow covered, tops glistening.
The path appearing
then disappearing,
highlighted by the sun.

Meandering amongst the boulders,
in and out of trees and shrubs.
Dragons, demons, ghoulies
hiding in the undergrowth.
Dark places, raging seas,
at times beside the path.

And now I hear the voices
- those before me on the way,
warm, encouraging
and re-assuring,
drawing me onwards.

I know if I keep walking
toward that future place,
the snow tops in the distance
- there I’ll reach my goal.
And yet the joy, the pleasure
is in the journey, which is all.

It may, or may not, be the tile poem of my new book

David

that is very definately a great life changing poem and one I will continue to read over and over.

I am not sure whether you are referring to my poem or to Mary Oliver's.

If mine, thank you.

As regards Mary Oliver's I doubt if I would have written any poetry had I not first read her poem.

Just looked at this. It surely is an intriguing poem. How DO we actually get to take action in the face of indecision, which I believe to be nothing more than fear - and nothing less than it.

Hilary, where you say:
it's the liberation of just knowing what you have to do that proves so powerful

Knowing is one thing, doing is another. T.S. Eliot writes something like: beween the intention and the act, there lies the shadow.
The liberation, for me is, often, in not having choices. having but a single course of action open to me is liberating. Indecision out of the window - I think!

I had not heard of mary Oliver, but will now seek her out - figuratively speaking.