This Sunday’s poem of the week is: The Journey

I write and publish my poetry first on Instagram. Then on Sundays, I post the poem that received the most likes or comments here on my blog. Below is my most popular Instagram poem this week, “The Journey”.

Enjoy!

The Journey

I

A curve in the road. Fog
coming down. Now all
that can be seen ahead
is the face of an unkempt hedgerow,
and its ditch at your feet.
This, after that hill
that was nothing but up,
and up and up, for miles,
that left you, last evening,
in the dusk, with the road all
but falling away, one foot
dangling in mid-air, dark swirling.

Knots in your insides
today, as you recall it.
A close thing.

And now this. This misted
outcrop of foliage and furrow,
cutting you off, sight unseen,
in this lonely outpost,
in these boots,
leaning on this staff,
unable to step forward.
Yet nothing for it
except to tread on.

II

You turn that corner,
get beyond one curve,
then another, and then,
in what seems an instant,
all is clear. Landscape
opens out to reveal itself,

a carpet of hillside and field
below, and in the distance,
the town, nestled in its valley,
beside the sea. Ha! You laugh aloud.
Yes. You see now how the road
that brought you here
has made you

fit enough to climb its twists
and turns as it took you up
to this height where you can see
all the routes: the streets
and lanes and byways.

Strong enough to choose
the path you must take from here.

Adept enough to know
that it will carry you back, now,
to where you need to go,
deliver you down, gently,
into what lies ahead.


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Orna Ross

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