Saturday, April 16, 2016

Finisterre

FINISTERRE
The road in the end taking the path the sun had taken,
into the western sea, and the moon rising behind you
as you stood where ground turned to ocean: no way
to your future now but the way your shadow could take,
walking before you across water, going where shadows go,
no way to make sense of a world that wouldn't let you pass
except to call an end to the way you had come,
to take out each frayed letter you brought
and light their illumined corners, and to read
them as they drifted through the western light;
to empty your bags; to sort this and to leave that;
to promise what you needed to promise all along,
and to abandon the shoes that had brought you here
right at the water's edge, not because you had given up
but because now, you would find a different way to tread,
and because, through it all, part of you could still walk on,
no matter how, over the waves. 
- David Whyte (from Pilgrim)






2 comments:

Katherine C. James said...

David Whyte is extraordinary.

no way to make sense of a world that wouldn't let you pass
except to call an end to the way you had come

to empty your bags; to sort this and to leave that;

not because you had given up
but because now, you would find a different way to tread


⭐️⭐️⭐️

Speranza said...

Thanks for this absolutely adore David Whyte's work - I love his "Poetry and Self-Compassion" lectures which I highly recommend, as well as the one about midlife. I listen to both at least twice a year and "hear" something new and pertinent each time.
Plus, he is frankly, gorgeous let's just say it :)