Journey of the Heart: A Pilgrim's Odyssey Part II
Mawphniang Napoleon 1993 (Ri Bhoi)
The trek was long, the path unwinding far
Into horizons steeped in twilight's glow
While you, a voyager, walked with no fixed star
To guide your steps as darkness started grow
Fatigue descends with each increasing mile
Slowing your pace to match the fading light
Yet still you carry on despite the trial
Not stopping though the way ahead seems slight
The light of dawn reveals the miles traversed
Your robes now ragged from the brush and bramble
No regal steed or carriage fine rehearsed
Just calloused feet pressed hard against loose gravel
You pause and wonder - was this journey wise?
When better paths might somewhere else arise
But choices made cannot be now undone
This road, though difficult, is yours alone
From seeking paths where roses bloom in sun
You've found, instead, where harsher stones are strewn
Take heart, wayfarer, the rising sun still shines
Lighting your way though the horizon lines
When weariness like waves breaks over you
Threatening to pull you into sorrow's tides
Recall, this moment too shall soon pass through
Giving way to calmer hours besides
Be kind, be still, allow yourself to rest
No need to push beyond your limits stretched
Who chides the weary traveler as weak?
That judges effort by the miles achieved?
Not those who know the struggles travelers seek
Whose empathy looks deeper to perceive
That each small step across uncertain floors
Requires a courage quiet but sure
So if your legs feel leaden as you walk
Your vision blurred, unclear the path ahead
Show yourself the kindness others balk
Offer compassion to your mind unfed
Surviving each slow mile through this terrain
Is vict'ry enough, till rest comes again
The longest journeys all begin with one
Small step, then one more, into unknown lands
The courage not in how fast you run
But pressing on though progress countermands
The horizon still so distant and so far
You've come too far now to forget who you are
Take pride in how you persevere each day
Through inner storms and outer winds that batter
Not cowed by those who mock you on your way
Holding course through failure and flattered chatter
Measure progress by your grit, not gains for show
True victors walk where few dare even go
So do not dwell on visions left behind
Of easier roads where flowers sweetly bloom
Stay true instead to your own heart's designed
Path winding through strange lands of rock and rue
What matters most is not some perfect place
But your integrity throughout this race
Know that each turn and tribulation faced
Hones wisdom no idle soul can claim
Trials overcome now inner strength embraced
Teaching more than any comfort ever could
This grueling journey carves the soul anew
Changing not the path but transforming you
So if weariness weighs down your very bones
And doubt creeps in to numb your weakened will
Pause, breathe, regain your strength, you are not alone
Others too falter, stumble, stand back still
Gather your courage, steadied from within
To take the next step forward and begin
Again, again, as many times as takes
To cross the miles between you and your dawn
Each fall, each rest, each step your spirit makes
Further than if sure-footed you strode on
Stumble, rise, walk - you are pilgrim, not machine
Stay true to your soul's vision through the unseen
What matter if others speed past blazing trails?
Their reckless haste no badge of inner might
Endurance shone not when success prevails
But in darkest watches of the loneliest night
So rest and tend the spirit when it tires
The journey calls not for speed but fires
Fires lit within against the creeping cold
That comes at dusk upon an empty road
Take comfort where warm hearths cannot be strolled
In flames faith-fanned and coals hope-glowing road
Though company scarce and comforts few
These inner lights will be enough to fuel you
On uphill climbs when breath comes hard won
And mist-veiled peaks obscure where trailheads lie
Hear this refrain when strength seems nearly gone
Others have crossed under same leaden sky
If they can climb, so too can you ascend
What others bless, the heavens may lend.
Should rain-swollen streams now divide your track
Raging currents between you and further shore
Wait patiently, have faith the waters slack
Enough to cross, though long you must stay yours
Courage is quiet when it cannot forge ahead
Waiting with wisdom instead of rushing blind
When the body stumbles, slow the mind's tread
Still it from judgements of the "left behind"
Compassion calms frustration's rising swell
Softens harsh edges time alone cannot quell
Let patience temper passions that impede
Wrap reason round your inner screaming child
The one insisting you must rush, make speed
Who balks at any progress slow styled
Hush now impetuous one, still impatience
Walk on with measured tread and wise cadence
What use harsh words against your weary frame?
Will chiding stern supply what rest cannot?
Those who whip broken beasts are most to blame
For faulting creatures whose stores are already shot
Treat yourself as you would a friend most dear
Be your own greatest champion here
These miles unknown may challenge and appall
But do not forget, you chose this walk yourself
To test your limits or to heed some inward call
Not idly, not lightly, wealth, fame, ease forsworn
Yours is a higher quest, a deeper yearning fire
No lower longing could have fueled such desire
It is a long hard road you travel on
Without sure promise of success ahead
Many turn back before the road is gone
Feeling foolish for dreams once fiercely bred
But you , you walk ahead, one foot then more
While others passed now rest by gentler shores
Yes, you stumble on alone through gathering night
Without hope of refuge till you reach journey's end
While other songs and laughter float in the twilight
Of easier roads where travelers comforted blend
But you, you press ahead, through dark and cold
Fixed on some inner vision yet untold
Take pride in this, though loneliness may gnaw
None echo your footfalls or hear your called refrain
Yours is the path less taken, hazardous, raw
But holding meaning unlike the safer, saner lane
Herein lies courage, to walk the edge fear-flawed
For no promise of ease, but integrity of soul
So step on even when exhaustion binds
Your feet like leaden weights you can scarce lift
The call is far, but fairer futures you will find
Once cresting hills that now obscure the rift
Between you and your dream still distant, awaiting
The price is high, but the promise worth such freighting
Think of explorers who crossed uncharted seas
With naught but faith to break each wave crest tall
Who rode out storms few would dare to brave
Enduring all to answer some mysterious call
Think of them, those travelers, wayward and undaunted
When your own hard road seems strange and unwanted
Yours too is uncharted, unprecedented in its ways
None can guide or guard you across its untrodden miles
None foresee what trials may beset your days
Or predict each challenge, detour that confounds and riles
But stay determined, let resilience ever grow
No matter which rough terrain you come to know
For who promised easy passage, gentle terrain?
Those were your dreams, fashioned from fairer climes
Reality shapes hills, and valleys carves plain
To test the resilient reach of souls in their primes
Can you accept this calloused path as your destined one?
Walk it with grace, not resenting trials to be won?
The day star rises on horizons aflame
Dawn after long night spent stumbling alone
Behold its brilliance! Boldly now proclaim
That light too lives in you, that you have always known
Through deepest darkness and coldest, crushing weather
Walk on, walk on, forgetting never
That you are light. And you are worthy this wild trek
Every stumble and bruise but加prove what you can overcome
Let dawning sun affirm your journey's rightness yet
What care if others took gentler roads closet to home?
Your soul spoke and you listened, rising to heed its plea
Walking the path of integrity, though it prove to be
Lonesome , long and oft-times too arduous
Trials that others escaped you now face and battle through
Yet each teaches resilience marvelous
And carves the soul with strengths entirely made new
So journey on, stay time to that voice inside
However difficult the path it may provide
To stop is to betray the dreaming child within
Who once saw clearly the frontier you now claim
That bold innocent who knew not how to ever give in
But charged forth full of faith against life's maiming
Protect that young and daring soul still paddling your heart
Shelter its hope and guard its dreaming-born art
For who is to say that child-vision binds less true
Than maturity's acquiescent contentment?
Perhaps youth sees what sated age filters through
Preferring safety's bars to liberating entanglement
Hold to those untamed vistas stretched beyond known lands
Draw courage from that youth who once joined you hand in hand
You walked together then, in simpler times
When roads ahead seemed boundless, filled with light
Before the world's weight dimmed your shared shine
Cynicism's tidings drowned creative sight
Call back that youth, rekindle the vivid dreaming
Stride forth again, lit bold and beaming
Then plod on, beyond where others pause and return
To roads more travelled , plains of temperate ease
Few go on to face solitude's stony lessons stern
But hold enough faith for both - theirs and yours, please
For you, you march to a distant drummer's tapping clue
Moving in time to a cadence only your soul hears true
What matter the barbs flung to hamper your walk?
The mockery and the smug mutters meant to shame?
Endure their judgment and refuse to balk
Fixed on that inner calling none else can claim
Their words lose all weight when you know your path is right
No need to joust with those who stay safe in the light
Your road is different, winding through evening shadows
Where faith replaces vision, and courage conquers doubt
There are treasures here not found on gentler meadows
Rich veins of wisdom - but to mine them takes digging out
So keep digging in the dark if you would uncover
The hidden wealth your unique journey harbors
Unseen currents flow beneath these dusty miles
Feeding rich springs of insight and revelation
But only those who walk through starless trials
Access such underground wells of transformation
Drink deep if you grow parched on these sightless trails
Let their strange waters nourish and refresh while others fail
For when the last lights of comfort's known land diminish at your back
And familiar voices fade like dissolving echoes
You find yourself now on a plane opaque, trackless
Here is where you learn what true mettle bestows
Step forth boldly, for those who aspire
Must pass through the crucible's purification fire
On this stark plateau relinquish weighed-down notions
Of who you were under gentler suns and softer climes
Here you stand unfettered by comfort's patient potions
Reduced to essence, naked, elemental, sublime
All that's unnecessary now peeled off layer by layer
Till only your quintessence stands atop this high cold austere
Look back from this precipice, how small seems that life before
When safe certificates defined you, given names reshaped your call
Up here no titles matter but the caliber of your core
And whether it's stout enough to hold fast against strong winds that maul
Stand upright then, let crosswinds claw and batter
You're still upright, bold dream intact - it doesn't matter
It doesn't matter who called you unwise, reckless, or unsound
For leaving behind comfort to venture where risk amplifies
Out here no noise from crowds below reaches this height profound
Save one - the voice you followed here, your sole guide to rise
Listen for it when gales threaten to unground and unstitch you
Follow its call if you hope to survive this loneliest thin blue
That voice, contained within and yet infinitely vaster
Than breath contained by bone, or thought by brain
It called you here, drove you on this quest far faster
Than tread of foot could pace, with yearnings vain
To glimpse the unseen contours of your own soul
Vision once clouded by life's race taking its toll
Now here, above it all, what matters but this -
To know yourself stripped bare of all imposed disguises
Here you are pilgrim, wayfinder, light seeker, witness
To sun's first rays blessing unmapped lands still arising
Stand firm, be still, let light lay bare truths long disguised
You're neither the first, nor shall be last, to crest at this summit arrived
What do the judgments of those left behind now matter?
Their words no longer have weight this high above
A new law rules here, hierarchies scatter
All are equal under heavens encompassing love
Rest then, and breathe this truth no mortal may undo
The only judgment left is how your soul speaks to you
How does it speak here in this rarified height?
Does it whisper that you are worthy this trying trek?
Affirm its purpose with words kind and light?
Acknowledge this path's struggles without regret?
If so, then rejoice, for this journey has now blessed your heart
With wisdom and mettle - resources that will never depart
Descend renewed then, walk gently down from this peak just surmounted
Go easy, go slow, let truths settle softly to stay
The landscape awaits, no longer dreaded but freedom unbounded
Each step now is steady and sure, night's terrors held at bay
By the light now ablaze in your heart, fueled from above
Undimmable by winds ,unmoved by words lacking love
So tread on, toward sunrise turn vision once more
The dawn awaits beyond valleys still left to cross
Wrapped in mists secrets, glimmers of undiscovered lore
In strange lands still veiled, yet no longer threatening loss
You walk on now with wisdom, patience, compassion fused
Fellow traveler, your eternal journey's just begun.
The poem is part of a full version found in the book “Homo Sapiens” Part Part I - XVIII, written by Mawphniang Napoleon. This book is part of the popular “Homo Sapiens” book series, which can be purchased online at various online bookstores, such as Amazon. The book is available for purchase for those who are interested in reading the complete version of the poem. Remember to get all the books from the “Homo Sapiens” series, as well as other books by the same author. So, don’t hesitate and get a copy today from one of the many online bookstores. Khublei Shihajar Nguh, (Dhanewad )(Thank you )
About this poem
This poem beautifully portrays the metaphor of life as a challenging and arduous journey. The author uses vivid and evocative language to describe the difficulties and trials faced by the traveler, emphasizing the importance of resilience, inner strength, and the pursuit of one's dreams. The poem encourages the reader to embrace the struggles and uncertainties of life as opportunities for growth and self-discovery. It's a powerful reminder that the path less traveled may be difficult, but it can lead to profound personal transformation and a deeper connection to one's true self. more »
Written on December 29, 2021
Submitted by Mawphniang.Napoleon on November 08, 2023
Modified by Mawphniang.Napoleon on November 12, 2023
- 13:09 min read
- 1 View
Quick analysis:
Scheme | Text too long |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 14,486 |
Words | 2,597 |
Stanzas | 110 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 14, 41, 4, 8, 7, 6, 1, 2, 2, 12, 22, 7, 1, 5, 5, 10, 7, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 6, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Journey of the Heart: A Pilgrim's Odyssey Part II" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/173341/journey-of-the-heart:-a-pilgrim's-odyssey-part-ii>.
Discuss the poem Journey of the Heart: A Pilgrim's Odyssey Part II with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In