Prescription for the Disillusioned
Come new to this day.
Remove the rigid overcoat of experience,
the notion of knowing,
the beliefs that cloud your vision.
Leave behind the stories of your life.
Spit out the sour taste of unmet expectations.
Let the old,
almost forgotten scent of what-if
drift back into the swamp
of your useless fears.
Arrive curious,
without the armor of certainty,
without the planned results for the life
you’ve imagined.
Live the life that chooses you,
new with every breath,
new with every blink of
your astonished eyes.
— Rebecca del Rio
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 fingers
at the very foundations.
Though their melancholy was terrible.
It was already late enough.
And a wild night.
And a 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
that you slowly recognized as you own
which kept you company
as you strolled 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
