unrevised
i’m home, but
i don’t want the pilgrimage to end,
so in the plod of rush hour,
i look around and see not
minivans adorned with little league stickers, not
hummers that make me furious, not
steel machines inhaling their fossil fuels and
blowing code orange smoke rings,
but the people inside, pilgrims on the way
to their sacred everyday places,
they are modest as turtles, trudging
on four rubber feet,
steel shells heavy on their weary backs;
even on the train they journey as pilgrims,
crammed into each rectangular chapel
where there aren’t enough seats,
where personal space is a little too personal,
yet still they sing bless the lord my soul
the best they know how.
7 Responses to “three days after returning”
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Asides
» I have been remiss in posting SBJ’s latest stats: 23 pounds and 27 inches at six months. Yes, I’ve got the big mama biceps.
» Aaaaaand little she-who-is lost another tooth this week!
» SBJ is four months old, 19 pounds 5 ounces, and 26 inches tall. GIGANTOR!
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
lovely!
This will be the challenge for all of us…to keep the pilgrimage going in the midst of suburbia. Thank you.
Thank you….that is just what I wanted to read on my return to work after a mini pilgrimage of my own - and while hunting for inspiration for a children’s service on the Transfiguration…ummm….
So be it. Yes, indeed.
the challenge is to be fully present to the interior and the exterior in goodly measure. this morning i re-read some old journal entries from 25 years ago—when our 3 kids were all 5 and under. oh, that was such a challenge during those years.
good luck as you make that same journey day by day by day.
and the turtle thing. isn’t the turtle a symbol of some deep female wisdom or power? (i seem to recall that from one of sue monk kidd’s books.) how does that relate to your riff on the mini-van thing?
and a mutual friend (who now has early onset alzheimers)who belongs to suburban pres has a large collection of turtles because her husband told her many years ago that he saw that she was willing to stick her neck out (like turtles) in order to move forward.
yes yes yes
Amen…South Florida is almost unbearably hot these days and somehow, both this poem and the Friday Five you gave us to play have felt like slipping into a quiet, cool spring of living water. Thank you.