Walkabout
Are we so bored
Uninterested and unaware
Of our travels
That we miss
Our own momentum
Demanding
Racy bandwagons
To hitchhike on
Hoping, hopping
From one to the next
To another
No, I’ll get there
Eventually
I wave them by
And think
I am content
On my own
Two feet
— A.R.
Walkabout by welilly on slimber.com
Wow. Again, wow. So beautiful and defiant and wise. The rhythm and rhyme were there, but they were also subliminal. Wonderful. And I share your sentiment (although I couldn’t have expressed it as aptly as this).
It also made me realize where I picked up the philosophy: in one of Nick Bantock’s whimsical books (I think it is The Gryphon, or otherwise Morning Star) when the woman in Paris wanted to fly to be with her lover in Cairo, and their spiritual adviser of sorts told her that traveling by air would only disorient her and take away from the love they have, so she’d better travel by land and sea. I dare say you would enjoy Bantock’s work, if you haven’t met them yet. There is an organic spirituality in this poem of yours that I can see mirrored in them.
Thank you so much for reading and for the wonderfully kind words about the poem. No, I am not aware of Bantock’s work, but will definitely take a look. And, as I have a fear of flying (but force myself to fly anyway), I love the idea of flight being a disorienting mode of travel. For me it almost certainly is. Perhaps I will post a short aphorism I recently wrote about my fear of flying…now that you have inspired me.
Thanks again for reading and for taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it. Enjoy your own walkabout today, and in the days to come.