thought I’d buy a world map
mark out places I’ve back packed
seems like a distant dream
so many places I have seen
was part of the overland team
vast reservoir of memories to tap
yet somewhere along the way
my thoughts would often stray
to friends and a sunburnt outback
new adventures did distract
but poverty and wars had a strong impact
travel credentials might be okay …
felt like map hopping could
be put aside. For I wished to abide
with familiar things each day
where friends and weather were okay
where I might earn a reasonable pay
Writing 201: Poetry 5: Map, Ode, Metaphor
I like the rhymes and the message! 😀
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Just woderful…I love your imaginative take wrapped in a metaphor….seems you and I are of like minds, given our reflections of the past…thanks for sharing your gift 🙂
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Exactly, Kate, and both were absolutely crucial to making you who you are. The travels enriched your curiosity and reinforced a more eclectic perspective, while home’s comforting familiarity allows you to develop kindness more fully. Both paths are vital and their meanderings brought you to a unique and nice place -“here.” This – kindness – is your home.
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Home is where the heart and the familiar lie (sometimes we can take ‘it’ with us).
Travel can be a wonder but returning to a known routine can also be a comfort 🙂
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Oh I see the dilemma, no sorry, I feel the dilemma. Absolutely wonderful how you have put it.
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Travelling can really be very interesting…it excites us as we learn different cultures and traditions..but at some point we have to stop….for reasons we cant avoid. And i am glad that you know when to stop…😊😊😊
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lol not sure I’ve stopped yet Mich but I visited more than thirty countries before I was 23yo … I hitched, camped and did local transport 🙂
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More than 30 countries? Wow..really wow and you started travelling when you were basically like my daughter…that’s amazing..
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worked three jobs and took off … what an adventure … then most trips after that were revisiting the friends I’d made along the way 🙂
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[…] and all it entails writing about me, a mere temporary speck seems so wrong. But here is a link to one of my earliest poems… wrote it to record a vastly different life, a stepping stone to where I am now. A faded memory […]
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This poem is so good, Kate!! I love your message -travelling really does make you more open-minded and culturally aware, but it is your appreciation of your home and family that keeps you grounded. Amazing how you’ve been posting such great poetry since the beginning!! 🙂
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you really are too kind, I’ve been writing poetry for 15 years now … a great way to express myself 🙂
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Wow, that’s wonderful!! What got you into poetey?
Also, so sorry for such a late reply!! I have to say I might not be able to be online frequently for 2 weeks (though i’ll be checking in every few days!)
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oh that’s not an issue, we all have other priorities.
I was doing a long solitary retreat and it became very carthartic to write …
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