A New Voice

One day he finally knew

what he had to do, and began.

Though the voices around him

kept shouting

their bad advice.

Though the whole house

began to tremble

and he felt the old tug

at his ankles.

‘Mend my life!’

each voice cried.

But he didn’t stop.

He knew what he had to do,

though the wind pried

with it's 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 he left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice.

Which he slowly

recognized as his own,

that kept him company

as he strode deeper and deeper

into the world.

Determined to do

the only thing he could do.

Determined to save

the only life he could save.

His own.