I
Ahead, roads rise into
Distances, expanses;
Exit after exit
Takes us further and further
Away from home,
Familiar and routine
Frameworks and schedules
Defining us. En route,
These viaducts and turnpikes,
Trails, lanes, passes,
Expressways, superhighways, freeways,
By roads and detours
Deliver us into spaces
Expanding all around us
Without end or beginning.
Nothing but light, air, water and wind.
II
Chicago, Demoines.
Out on the prairie,
The flat, mother Earth
All around us
Abandons us
In the middle of nowhere.
Still, the sky, the sunlight,
The smell of cut grass
Places us here,
Now: a shadow across
Wheat and corn
In all their abundance.
It is good to be alive,
Looking at that old farmhouse,
Remembering the homesteaders,
Imagining their lives;
Spinning, sewing, splitting logs.
And looking ahead
To where we might go from here:
Cities of libraries and art museums,
High rises overlooking Lake Michigan,
Sculpture gardens, cathedrals,
Wifi and all its applications.
Detroit. Demoines. Chicago.
III
Mountains on the horizon
Point up to the stars,
A wind from the Pacific
Brings aromas of cherry trees
From Tokyo, the smell of pomegranets
Growing on the hillsides of China,
Tastes of wildflower honey
And the snows of the Himalayas.
There is always someplace further,
Beyond you, beckoning
And calling you on,
Tempting you to leave all you've ever known
Right where it is,
To meet the face of a Sherpa
On the path to Shangri-La.
Who knows if he's an angel from God?
|
Author Notes
After writing Travels, I took a trip out to Beaufort and more ideas involved with travel started popping up in my head, and they unrolled into this encore of sorts to that poem. So with a bit of editing, I decided to post into this collection. I kind of like it more than the first poem, especially parts II and III. I really like the ending. Somehow this idea of the eternity of travel, the endlessness of the wanderlust spirit, seems intriguing to me. The idea that there is always someplace further on, someplace magical, with magical people to meet in it. estory
|
|