The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you 
kept shouting
their bad advice
---
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do
---
and there was 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