MY LOVE OF POEMS

I have always love to read poems,and sometimes I did not really get the meaning of them some of them. So I would read them over and over and yes over again until something clicked. I can remember having to get up in front of the class and recite them in school. The one I remember the most is Trees. This is the poem that really started my love for poetry. Don't ask me why it just did. Maybe it was my teacher and the way she read it to the class and helped us to understand it more. That teachers name was Chris Turner. She was a hard but loving teacher. She might not in later year remember your name but she knew she taught you at some point. She remembered my name, but mostly how shy I was. If you did not know me then and know me today that probably makes you laugh. Yes I was very shy! I am going to share a poem that I found a few years ago that for some reason spoke to my heart.

THE JOURNEY

by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

thought 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,

thought 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 that you could save.