Looking at the comments, it’s very clear that I didn’t do the reading because I’m supposed to write a response poem or something, LOL. But I just wanted to say this poem resonates with me very deeply right now as I’m in the process of moving (for health reasons) to a completely new and unfamiliar place in which I do not yet know a single living soul. So thanks for the words—I’ll be carrying them with me over the next month or so, for sure.
Long before smart phones
Little battery powered transistor radios
Poster for a Seattle Radio station
In the 1960’s
Drawing of a classic hobo
Dancing down the railroad
Tracks
Transistor radio pressed to his ear.
Caption:
“Those who dance, are thought
Quite insane, by those who
Can’t hear the music”.
That poster has been a guide
For me for years
At my best I have heard and followed
The music.
I have not settled, I have not let the
Many, compelling and seductive sounds of caution, fear and taming keep
Me from dancing to a different and truer tune that draws me onto a magical mystery journey.
Jesus, St Francis, Mother Teresa,
Martian Luther King Jr., Dorthy Day Clyde Bellecourt, Greta Thurnberg, Winona LaDuke.
All thought crazy
All hearing divine music
All calling us to journey, all inviting us to
The dance of a greater life.
The word "journey" comes from the
middle-English word for a day's travel,
or, a day's work.
When we talk about life being a journey,
most people think about it as though
we are simply traveling through life,
and it makes it seem like the destination
is the important part,
and that the purpose of the journey
is just to get to wherever we're going.
They've built entire religions
around the idea that the whole point of life
is to get to the end,
and that the only thing we should care about
is whether or not we're going to end up
at the right place,
with the right people.
But I think that life, as a journey,
is our life's work.
The life is the purpose.
The life is the important part.
When we think about it that way,
it becomes a lot more difficult
to ignore our impact on
the space we are traveling in,
and those who are traveling with us.
Under the firs of the Northwest I
found myself
alone and happy,
caught in the arms of the world
for the first time:
a journey outward.
Under the roof of my thoughts I
lost myself
alone and chaotic
until I learned how to carve a path
through that which terrifies me:
a journey ongoing.
most stop,
sooner or later.
move on, next chapter, please.
but a special few never arrive.
that's not their goal.
like me & music.
like me & love.
like me & jesus.
When you think you know it all,
you stop the journey.
We arrived back to London
to find the underground
closes after midnight.
Foolish Americans, miles
from our dorm rooms,
spotlight streetlamps
and two backpacks
between us. We straightened
our spines and refused
to look at each other,
warrior-posed pair
for a night trek
in streets rain slick,
a test of dexterity,
our vigilant breaths drum-
No one approach us.
Our journey is afoot.
12 days of traveling in May make this Journey prompt the hardest so far...
Interviewing people impacted by the disease ALS in the shadow of the Washington Monument and next to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Being fully present for the first next generation wedding in West Virginia
Then a 90th birthday celebration in Tampa Bay
Sitting here with black coffee thinking about 12 days of wonder, conversation, recollections and grace
*raises coffee mug* To the in between!
Looking at the comments, it’s very clear that I didn’t do the reading because I’m supposed to write a response poem or something, LOL. But I just wanted to say this poem resonates with me very deeply right now as I’m in the process of moving (for health reasons) to a completely new and unfamiliar place in which I do not yet know a single living soul. So thanks for the words—I’ll be carrying them with me over the next month or so, for sure.
Previously,
I wouldn't have described this
as a journey -
growth would be the word
I would have imagined to
describe the process -
becoming the person
I was meant to be.
But, it isn't that simple.
We don't just grow
until we get there.
At some point,
I realized
who I wanted to be
wasn't
who I was created to be.
This required
unloading equipment
I would no longer need.
It would require
returning through
hostile territory
to heal.
It takes place
through dark nights,
In fields of beautiful flowers-
to which I have become allergic -
there are steep climbs,
downhill tumbles,
muddy marshes,
unpaved paths,
rest stops to tend wounds,
and even some excursions
to sightsee.
But one day,
I will arrive
the distance traveled
immeasurable
the total displacement
Zero
I will be home
The place I started
from before
my birth.
Journey
Sometimes I feel like my life is like a video game
I’m completing all of the side quests first
Because I don’t want to do the main mission
I don’t like reaching the final BOSS
They’re always big and scary and difficult to defeat
I’d much rather just go around
Collecting gems
Cutting down grass
Running errands for minor background characters
That’s a lot more fun
Than facing the villain
Journey home to Self
Discover your vibrant spark
Tend it carefully
Don’t let it go out
Your spark is the Divine forced
Ready to create
Sometimes a journey happens
in
one
place.
We have traveled through pandemic
and loss
and grief
and fear
and wonder
and questions
and uncertainty
and
one
change
after
another.
So here’s the thing:
There is no way
that we could possibly be
in the same place.
And yet physically we are.
But
mentally,
spiritually,
emotionally,
we have journeyed through
so much.
So we are not just new.
But in a new place…
and we are ready,
because others have journeyed
before us,
and
with us.
The journey of life
is all about the living
the steps along the way
but the journey to see you
is all about the destination
the promise of arrival
the joy of togetherness