Clean Slate

[Wokabaut_Meri]

Clean Slate

I would like to start again
with a simple room
overlooking the sea -
empty of memory.
Bare floorboards
so I could hear the rhythm
of my uncluttered heart.
I would build slowly
re-create privacy:
a typewriter
a work table
a pinewood chair
no ornaments
and a small stove to cook
simple food; some books
and perhaps the luxury
of a big bed - just in case…
In such a space I might find
Joy I seem to lose
among the burden of possessions,
pared back to my original self.
I could find a way to live…
After all, I arrived here empty-handed.

Bonnie Quinn Cotter, Ireland

Discovered in an alberque guest book by a AFOTC member
[Sourced from the Australian Friends of Camino Newsletter #29 June 2019]

I'm back on the Forum after some time (years ) away as Life and responsibilities took me in different directions and on many different routes but still Walkabout in corners of this wondrous planet... just recently the Camino has been appearing in my days in the most odd places and and now it calls me back... so Hola to everyone and it's so good to be here again to share and learn and grow

This poem touched me in all manner of Ways and brought me to reflect, as I do once home again after another epic trek, what would I have done differently along the Way, knowing what I now know at the end of the journey... an Aussie Balladeer once termed it 'Looking Forward, Looking Back'.

I read voraciously and find such wisdom that echoes experiences on the Camino and other treks as in Alfred Lansing's Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage:

And in the space of a few short hours, life had been reduced from a highly complex existence, with a thousand petty problems, to one of the barest simplicity in which one real task remained - the achievement of the goal.

Some of my mountaineering friends tell me that this truly resonates with them as decisions in the mountains are 'simple' compared with the complexity of day to day living... friends also talk to me about their struggles to reenter daily life after walking a Camino... the Art of Coming Home...

A healthy person has a thousand wishes, but a sick person only one.

All topics touched on and discussed before but so well encapsulated in one beautiful verse...

 

[Former member 49149]

Clean Slate

I would like to start again
with a simple room
overlooking the sea -
empty of memory.
Bare floorboards
so I could hear the rhythm
of my uncluttered heart.
I would build slowly
re-create privacy:
a typewriter
a work table
a pinewood chair
no ornaments
and a small stove to cook
simple food; some books
and perhaps the luxury
of a big bed - just in case…
In such a space I might find
Joy I seem to lose
among the burden of possessions,
pared back to my original self.
I could find a way to live…
After all, I arrived here empty-handed.

Bonnie Quinn Cotter, Ireland

Discovered in an alberque guest book by a AFOTC member
[Sourced from the Australian Friends of Camino Newsletter #29 June 2019]

I'm back on the Forum after some time (years ) away as Life and responsibilities took me in different directions and on many different routes but still Walkabout in corners of this wondrous planet... just recently the Camino has been appearing in my days in the most odd places and and now it calls me back... so Hola to everyone and it's so good to be here again to share and learn and grow

This poem touched me in all manner of Ways and brought me to reflect, as I do once home again after another epic trek, what would I have done differently along the Way, knowing what I now know at the end of the journey... an Aussie Balladeer once termed it 'Looking Forward, Looking Back'.

I read voraciously and find such wisdom that echoes experiences on the Camino and other treks as in Alfred Lansing's Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage:


Some of my mountaineering friends tell me that this truly resonates with them as decisions in the mountains are 'simple' compared with the complexity of day to day living... friends also talk to me about their struggles to reenter daily life after walking a Camino... the Art of Coming Home...



All topics touched on and discussed before but so well encapsulated in one beautiful verse...

perhaps you were gone before I came, but anyway, thank you for your re-entry words. Welcome back to your home place...

 

[SabsP]

@Wokabaut_Meri : welcome back!

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

perhaps you were gone before I came, but anyway, thank you for your re-entry words. Welcome back to your home place...

I set off for other climes early in 2017 after 2 years on the Forum so was around when you first joined though our topics must have been divergent then. So... thank you for the welcome and look forward to reading your posts.

 

[Davey Boyd]

Welcome back!

Davey

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I joined in February 2017...we must have just passed by each other in the wind. I love your newest post...welcome back!

 

[VNwalking]

Welcome back, @Wokabaut_Meri !
This poem...wonderful!

pared back to my original self.
I could find a way to live…
After all, I arrived here empty-handed.

There are so many layers of truth here.
And the golden question...
Well. It is solved by walking.

 

[GettingThere]

Welcome back, @Wokabaut_Meri ! Good to see your name appearing again.

 

[Ekelund]

Thank you for sharing the poem, it is beautiful.
Good to see you back on the Forum.

 

[Mike Savage]

Welcome back!

 

[mspath]

Welcome back Meri!
May all who wish it continue to be at home here either in reality or memory.

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

Welcome back, @Wokabaut_Meri !
This poem...wonderful!

There are so many layers of truth here.
And the golden question...
Well. It is solved by walking.

Always

Now shall I walk or shall I ride?
'Ride,' Pleasure said;
'Walk,' Joy replied.

W.H. Davies

 

[Colette Z]

Clean Slate

I would like to start again
with a simple room
overlooking the sea -
empty of memory.
Bare floorboards
so I could hear the rhythm
of my uncluttered heart.
I would build slowly
re-create privacy:
a typewriter
a work table
a pinewood chair
no ornaments
and a small stove to cook
simple food; some books
and perhaps the luxury
of a big bed - just in case…
In such a space I might find
Joy I seem to lose
among the burden of possessions,
pared back to my original self.
I could find a way to live…
After all, I arrived here empty-handed.

Bonnie Quinn Cotter, Ireland

Discovered in an alberque guest book by a AFOTC member
[Sourced from the Australian Friends of Camino Newsletter #29 June 2019]

I'm back on the Forum after some time (years ) away as Life and responsibilities took me in different directions and on many different routes but still Walkabout in corners of this wondrous planet... just recently the Camino has been appearing in my days in the most odd places and and now it calls me back... so Hola to everyone and it's so good to be here again to share and learn and grow

This poem touched me in all manner of Ways and brought me to reflect, as I do once home again after another epic trek, what would I have done differently along the Way, knowing what I now know at the end of the journey... an Aussie Balladeer once termed it 'Looking Forward, Looking Back'.

I read voraciously and find such wisdom that echoes experiences on the Camino and other treks as in Alfred Lansing's Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage:


Some of my mountaineering friends tell me that this truly resonates with them as decisions in the mountains are 'simple' compared with the complexity of day to day living... friends also talk to me about their struggles to reenter daily life after walking a Camino... the Art of Coming Home...



All topics touched on and discussed before but so well encapsulated in one beautiful verse...

There is a time for everything in life. Nothing happens by mistake. There are no coincidences in God’s world. You are exactly where you need to be at this moment. Welcome back and happy camino planning.

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

There is a time for everything in life. Nothing happens by mistake. There are no coincidences in God’s world. You are exactly where you need to be at this moment. Welcome back and happy camino planning.

No, no coincidences... only a masterful serendipity at work... and faith/fate

the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen

 

[Camino Chrissy]

That's a great definition of faith.

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

That's a great definition of faith.

Hebrews 11:1

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Hebrews 11:1

I know!

 

[NualaOC]

Clean Slate

I would like to start again
with a simple room
overlooking the sea -
empty of memory.
Bare floorboards
so I could hear the rhythm
of my uncluttered heart.
I would build slowly
re-create privacy:
a typewriter
a work table
a pinewood chair
no ornaments
and a small stove to cook
simple food; some books
and perhaps the luxury
of a big bed - just in case…
In such a space I might find
Joy I seem to lose
among the burden of possessions,
pared back to my original self.
I could find a way to live…
After all, I arrived here empty-handed.

Bonnie Quinn Cotter, Ireland

Discovered in an alberque guest book by a AFOTC member
[Sourced from the Australian Friends of Camino Newsletter #29 June 2019]

I'm back on the Forum after some time (years ) away as Life and responsibilities took me in different directions and on many different routes but still Walkabout in corners of this wondrous planet... just recently the Camino has been appearing in my days in the most odd places and and now it calls me back... so Hola to everyone and it's so good to be here again to share and learn and grow

This poem touched me in all manner of Ways and brought me to reflect, as I do once home again after another epic trek, what would I have done differently along the Way, knowing what I now know at the end of the journey... an Aussie Balladeer once termed it 'Looking Forward, Looking Back'.

I read voraciously and find such wisdom that echoes experiences on the Camino and other treks as in Alfred Lansing's Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage:


Some of my mountaineering friends tell me that this truly resonates with them as decisions in the mountains are 'simple' compared with the complexity of day to day living... friends also talk to me about their struggles to reenter daily life after walking a Camino... the Art of Coming Home...



All topics touched on and discussed before but so well encapsulated in one beautiful verse...

Thank you @Wokabaut_Meri for sharing this - and welcome back to the forum.

 

[FamPed]

Welcome back. ☺

Hebrews 11:1

I know!