There are an estimated 130,000 miles of public footpaths in Great Britain. They go here, there and everywhere, leading us to secret places, taking us away from our everyday lives. This is not the first time I have created a poem that bears the title "The Path". For example, looking back I wrote another one in March of this year. See here.
Beautiful,thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading it Wenda. You were the second person in the world to read it.
DeletePlodding to the rhythm
ReplyDeleteOf our hearts...
Leaving
The other world behind
I always enjoyed the meditative aspect of walking. Nicely captured.
Yes "meditative". That's a good word. Walking isn't all about muscles, joints and deeper breaths.
DeleteNo doubt many of these words, phrases and similar are formed when you're rambling out and about.
ReplyDeleteYour walks not only do you good, physically and mentally, but us, too, in other ways - because we are the beneficiaries of the fruits of those pleasant outings. Thank you. :)
A poem like this could only well up from my experience of walking. It would be very hard indeed, almost impossible, to have crafted it purely in imagination. Thanks Lee.
DeleteDistinctly a poem for walkers.
ReplyDeleteBefore wheels and horses all of our ancestors were walkers.
DeleteIt's interesting to think about what might have gone on before.
ReplyDeleteEven in North America, I guess there are places where you can sense the former presence of indigenous peoples of long ago. They must have created many paths and tracks.
DeleteWhen we first began to visit our son at his university, there was something about an area in northwest Georgia where I always became aware that native Americans had been there. Years later I learned about the infamous Trail of Tears in the 1830s when the U.S. Government forced thousands of Cherokee people to walk from Georgia to Oklahoma and many died along the way. That stretch of road now has signs that identify it as being part of the original route of the Trail of Tears.
DeleteThey had to walk farther than the length of Britain. No wonder it was called The Trail of Tears.
DeleteToday's poem has a very different rhythm to the March poem. Today's path is not so straight forward, it requires effort but 'we shall' unites us in our purpose along the way.
ReplyDeleteAlphie
You have touched upon a deliberate angle I chose for this poem - the sense of humanity in unity not solitude, even though my own experience of walking is mainly solitary.
DeleteI was trying to remember where I'd seen one of those labyrinth walkways used for meditation. I'm sure it was in a church or cathedral but can't recall which. However, I did find this handy guide.
ReplyDeletePhew! That's a relief. I am not barmy after all. Others see a link between walking and spiritual/psychological refreshment.
DeleteAs my walking is limited most of the time to these beloved woods and dirt roads, I find much pleasure and satisfaction in your walking and stories. And also in books and poems written by other great minds and soulful thinkers. Lovely poem, Brother Pudding.
ReplyDeletePiggy backing you along these paths has been a pleasure Sister Bear.
DeleteI used to think how fortunate I was to be walking paths for leisure that so many before had walked for a purpose.
ReplyDelete