Poem: "A Long Strange Road"
This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. Based on an audience poll, it is the free epic for the March 2, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl reaching its $250 goal. It fills the "Acorn - Immortality" square in my 2-1-21 "The Language of Flowers" card for the Valentines Bingo fest.
"A Long Strange Road"
Driving along a road
across a wide flat plain,
I could see far ahead and
far behind, and everything
looked the same from there.
Then I came to a mountain.
It rose high into the clouds, and
green trees cloaked its shoulders.
Even the base of the mountain
was concealed by trees and mist,
hiding its roots from my sight.
Around the mountain went
a winding road, bright with
the headlights and taillights
of cars coming and going,
which connected starbursts of
towns twinkling in the evening.
I wanted very much to go
there, but I could not see how
to get from here to there.
The road I was on was straight,
the plain flat, and the mountain
with its jeweled spiral seemed
to belong to another world.
As I drove on, though,
a curious thing began
to happen: the road under
me began to rise, lifting me
closer to the mountain.
I entered the trees, and
for a time it was dark --
I could see neither ahead
nor behind for any distance,
only a little lit by my headlights.
A river ran beside the road,
making it twist and turn, and
a mist rose up from the river,
unfamiliar but still beautiful.
When I came out again, I saw
that I was climbing the mountain!
I had come up through the trees
and the mist, out onto the road
that wrapped around the slopes.
Before me in the night were towns
glittering with promise, all up and
down the sides of the mountain.
When I looked out over the edge, I
could see the great plain spread out below,
and the straight road on it stretching
out toward the farthest horizon.
From the mountain, I could see
much farther than I could from
the plain, even though the plain
had seemed so wide and clear
while I was driving on it.
Only now could I see that
the straight road of the plain and
the winding road of the mountain
were one and the same all along.
It was a long strange road, but
the view at the end was worth it.
As it is with travelers across
a varied landscape, so it is
with souls on their journeys.
Life is not separate from death.
It only looks that way for a while.
* * *
Notes:
Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.
-- Saying Images
Many religions hold that souls are eternal, that life and death are just aspects of the same thing.
"A Long Strange Road"
Driving along a road
across a wide flat plain,
I could see far ahead and
far behind, and everything
looked the same from there.
Then I came to a mountain.
It rose high into the clouds, and
green trees cloaked its shoulders.
Even the base of the mountain
was concealed by trees and mist,
hiding its roots from my sight.
Around the mountain went
a winding road, bright with
the headlights and taillights
of cars coming and going,
which connected starbursts of
towns twinkling in the evening.
I wanted very much to go
there, but I could not see how
to get from here to there.
The road I was on was straight,
the plain flat, and the mountain
with its jeweled spiral seemed
to belong to another world.
As I drove on, though,
a curious thing began
to happen: the road under
me began to rise, lifting me
closer to the mountain.
I entered the trees, and
for a time it was dark --
I could see neither ahead
nor behind for any distance,
only a little lit by my headlights.
A river ran beside the road,
making it twist and turn, and
a mist rose up from the river,
unfamiliar but still beautiful.
When I came out again, I saw
that I was climbing the mountain!
I had come up through the trees
and the mist, out onto the road
that wrapped around the slopes.
Before me in the night were towns
glittering with promise, all up and
down the sides of the mountain.
When I looked out over the edge, I
could see the great plain spread out below,
and the straight road on it stretching
out toward the farthest horizon.
From the mountain, I could see
much farther than I could from
the plain, even though the plain
had seemed so wide and clear
while I was driving on it.
Only now could I see that
the straight road of the plain and
the winding road of the mountain
were one and the same all along.
It was a long strange road, but
the view at the end was worth it.
As it is with travelers across
a varied landscape, so it is
with souls on their journeys.
Life is not separate from death.
It only looks that way for a while.
* * *
Notes:
Life is not separate from death. It only looks that way.
-- Saying Images
Many religions hold that souls are eternal, that life and death are just aspects of the same thing.