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”
Leave a Reply
Search
Asides
» It’s National Procrastination Week (who comes up with these things?), and in honor of people like me who like to celebrate NPW all year long, here’s a good article.
» Best packaging. Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves? Well, that’s kind of a silly question, but I’ve come this far with the blog challenge… I did get this Gelaskin for my laptop. If you see me in the coffee place, say hi.
» When did you get your best rush of the year? Here.
Links
Join | List | Prev | Next Random | Prev5 | Next5
Skip Prev | Skip Next
Join | List | Prev | Next |
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.