Moving forward
does not take legs of strength
only steady strides at an easy pace
to move toward a certain place.
But I am so very tired,
weary, pain filled
from making the walk a race.
Can I meet today somebody
this day now
who understands how
the complexity of the journey
keeps us going along in the way.
Perhaps ask them to walk awhile by my side,
maybe smooth the road with wisdom’s dexterity
in the places I can’t see,
help me learn there is more than one way
to be, to tread on the way ahead?
Can anyone help me;
offer a strengthening word
that I might see the end
need not be yet near?
Then when that day finally arrives
and I no longer have the will or wish
to continue the walk forward
will they whisper of love and light to me
as I fade away, leave a living flower
to mark the place I passed into
the darkest depth of night
before continuing on the way
towards the living light?
© M Durfee
7/2/13
You gotta walk that lonesome valley.
ReplyDeleteYou gotta walk it by yourself.
Nobody else can walk it for you.
you gotta walk it by yourself.
Not much encouragement but at least you know we're all in the same boat. Great poem Mark. You're on a roll.
Thanks Carleton. I am not afraid of ending the road alone but it would be nice to be fertilizer for something left behind that lives on.
Deletei'd walk it with you man...we need that...
ReplyDeletenot the bullshit machoism that we can walk it on our own
because there are times we cant...keep moving the feet man...
keep moving the feet...
Brian we could i believe easily hang out together, I'd spoil your boys with lavish gifts and then send them home...seriously dude you have been by my side for a long time now. And i thank you for it.
DeleteDear Mark. You're already a lot stronger than I.
ReplyDeleteBut I will leave you daisies. And welcome the questions, always.
Unfortunately, once we're gone folks will probably complain about the bump in the road our corpse leaves.
ReplyDeleteProbably seems silly to you because it is such a distance but i've got ya. Have the best damn hiking boots tried and true. :-) I'm one strong 65 year old and am very familiar with the path.
ReplyDeleteMelinda one day...you can read my cards and let me know what the oracle has to say. For now hell yes to senior strength!
Deleteonly a warrior trudges on through the war.
ReplyDeleteYou, my friend, are a warrior. In the end you will be standing. I have no doubt.
Candace God knows i thank you for your faith in me when i have so little in myself.
Deletealong any path, we always have fellow travelers, if only in our minds - i'm sure you have more than i....
ReplyDeleteYep Tony my problem is trying to figure out which personality i am un-caging today or which is caging me. It's one or the other.
DeleteThere are many times I've been blessed to have companions and other times I've walked along... but those last steps we will all make along, I suppose, if we're lucky (or unlucky). Nice poem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the former part of your comment Jeff but i don't think it a necessity for us to fade away alone, there are after all otherd who have gone that way before us. Who' to say they do not wait to aid us in our exiting.
DeleteI echo Sarah Hina (above).
ReplyDeleteBut my greatest fear is to be on that road with all my faculties gone! I am 75.
Ivan i have thought about that too...but then I relized if i was demented i wouldn't know it and everything in my world would be normal. *shrug* what? me worry?
DeleteThanks Galen but we better put a motor & mud tires on that bad boy and make it fit two.
ReplyDeleteMark, all roads lead to the same place for all men! xo
ReplyDeleteA sad one for me. I see nothing much coming with old age but pain and sadness and aloneness.
ReplyDelete