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Walking Words
Sometimes I walk for peace, but the war goes on
Sometimes I go on - though my pain doesn’t stop.
This particular morning I walked for the sake of walking
Slowly - on the ditch path - stopping often -
Because my legs insist.
Time to move on - time to get on with it -
With peace, that is, but where’s the path?
Time to turn around and get back to the beginning.
But not before I rest once more.
But while the legs and the body struggle
Words leap and dance and crowd my mind.
Which ones to use on the momentous day
When my head is shorn of its cloud of white hair.
Still walking -
I rejected the idea of a statement of conscience -
Such weightiness seemed out of place in the lightness
That had somehow become part of that morning -
Still walking -
Thoughts of poetry entered my mind.
I tried to make sense of the jumble and tumble
of words in my head.
And - still walking -
I became preoccupied with the concept of struggle.
So many ways to struggle for peace and justice
And that led me - still walking - to wonder if any words
Could contain my determination to see this through -
To end the domination of might over right.
No poem yet, but now I am standing at my front door,
Suddenly aware I hadn’t made a single rest stop all the way home.
And an understanding - an epiphany - pushed aside all doubt.
My morning walk thus became a metaphor
For the path I must take in the cause of peace.
Yes, there is pain and suffering and sorrow all around us.
And yes, progress is often too painfully slow,
And the wisdom of our choices may be open to question. But the only path for me is to focus on every step, however small,
To make a better world - everywhere, for everybody.
May we all continue to walk, to hope, to struggle. Shalom.
Ruth Imber |
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