Image: ChatGPT
shroud symbols water rock sun tracks spear stolen cross promise moon trail
Poets and Story tellers had the prompt of 'dance'. I snuck it in, briefly.
dVerse Poet's Pub has an open night.
The Pilgrim
"Not all those who wander are lost"
-- J.R.R. Tolkien
He travelled on a promise,
On a hope, maybe a prayer,
It seemed to be solid ground
And yet, he wandered—
Not lost, just wandering.
◊
His tracks trailing behind him,
Slowly stolen by the wind.
Time passed, punctuated by the cycles
of the moon and sun—
Tangible but ephemeral
Symbols of his wanderings.
Wanderings, for his goal was not clear,
The promise was there but shrouded too,
Dancing tantalising on the edges of his mind.
◊
Trees, rocks, water, savannah, snow
Deserts, swamps, forests,
Fields filled with spears of hollyhocks,
Temples of monkeys,
Lakes filled with lotus,
The wide steppes of the tundra—
He had crossed them all.
And still he wandered.
And that was enough.
◊
A most sophisticated pice of writing. Worthy of several readings. I like the first line, the trails stolen by the wind line, the cycles of moon and sun, the shrouded promise, the trees, rocks, water, savannah, snow etc lines, the monkey temples and the wide steppes. Lovely. Thank you for it.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully realised. I'm always impressed by how well , and seamlessly, you weave the given words.
ReplyDeleteGreat poem I especially loved the second stanza with some beautiful lines and the very last two lines
ReplyDeleteFor some reason it made me think of Johnny Cash - a truly engaging poem - Jae
ReplyDeleteI like "his tracks trailing behind him". Settling down is not for all. Some are simply born to wander and, as you say, that is enough.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the poem and am glad you shared it here at OLN. Your comment before the poem was a bit surprising though. "I snuck it in, briefly.
ReplyDeletedVerse Poet's Pub has an open night. Serves them right, they should be more careful." That's actually the purpose of OLN here at dVerse so it's not a matter of being more careful. We welcome your post and those of others! We have it on most Thursdays and it gives folks who don't always post to dVerse, an opportunity for a wider audience. It also gives folks who don't necessarily like to follow a prompt, or a particular prompt, an opportunity to share their creative work with a global audience.
Not sure if you're familiar with our dVerse LIVE option? One Saturday a month we host a LIVE OLN session from 10 to 11 AM EST. Folks are invited to join us online with audio and video to read one poem of their choosing. We're a friendly bunch. I host it about every 3 months. Last time we had folks from Kenya, UK, Sweden, Pakistan, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Iowa. Do consider joining us some time...we're a friendly bunch! And again, I enjoyed your poem!
Alas OLN is at 2am local time and, in all honesty, I am not at my best at that time.
DeleteI felt the wandering. Great poem, and outstanding last lines.
ReplyDelete"Not lost, just wandering" but about to be swimming. A fun poem.
ReplyDeleteI like the repetition of the word wander (and it's variations). It's not always easy to remember that wandering can be rewarding, even when there's no destination in mind.
ReplyDelete