The Healing Power of Poetry

The more I open up my thought to the power of poetry, the more I see all the ways in which it can bring healing into our lives. It seems we could all use a big bunch of that, for many different reasons. Some of these reasons might be emotional, some physical, some financial. We are a world in need of healing.

As I mentioned yesterday, it seems poetry is appearing everywhere. Some of our fellow bloggers include a poem now and then, some have a certain day they post one. I see poetry in magazines, introduced and talked about in length. I just read an interview with Mary Oliver, one of my favorite poets. In this interview, which she almost never gives, she discussed the next phase of her life in which she felt she was becoming a bit more open, more personal in the telling of her life through poetry. She noted that she feels, at age 75, with the loss of her life partner, Molly, and in coming to terms with her troubled childhood, she's finally coming into her own. She also says she's discovered her sense of humor. Isn't that wonderful?   To discover new things about oneself at that stage of life?   To do so at any age allows us to walk through new doors, into new adventures.

I had another poem, by another poet, all picked out for today, but then I read this one by Mary and knew I wanted to share it. I recognized myself in her words. Perhaps some of you will, too. That is the power of poetry.


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