The Transcendental Journey
Karl Constantine FOLKES 1935 (Portland)
Life is but a journey.
And we are all its travelers.
Traveling to find our core Self
that unites in us the many.
The many selves within us.
Seeking to find their union.
Seeking to find wholeness.
The journey of the soul.
That journey never ceases.
It is without completion.
Outwards its form is physical.
A union of two bodies.
Two bodies with one purpose.
The purpose of fulfillment.
Fulfillment sought from outside.
Desiring to find wholeness.
Yet within such union
is desire of the soul.
To find the straight and narrow.
A path that is less traveled.
That path is inward leading.
Though many seek it outwards.
Seeking to find their true self.
In the image of The Other.
‘Twas on such a wayward journey
I met you as a traveler.
You on the path going inwards.
With me looking only outwards.
I met you on the journey
in the middle of the path
where like Dante courting Beatrice
you gave me cause to pause.
To pause about life’s purpose.
And what it holds for each one.
The many lessons taught us.
With nature as our teacher.
To stop and ponder with you
the many joys of life:
How nature pours her blessings
on every single soul.
How Wisdom speaks with softness
and Knowledge walks with Grace.
And in those precious moments
we’ve learned of sadness too:
How Life and Death are partners.
How Lie disguises Truth.
How Pride mocks shy Humility.
How Anger battles Peace.
In the middle of the journey
we’ve talked of Love and Pain.
Of War and dismal Suffering.
Of Happiness and Peace.
We’ve praised the sky at sunrise
and hailed the moon at night.
We’ve danced the dance of lovers
and sung the song of dreams.
We’ve drunk the wine of sages
and boiled the bitter herbs.
We’ve bathed our skins in precious oils
and soaked our feet in myrrh.
We’ve chatted without ceasing.
And now we move again.
To face the path that lies ahead.
To weave the web of Life.
I met you on the journey.
That journey we call life.
We’ve moved in tandem as one.
Weaving the web of Life.
Life is but a journey.
To find ourselves in others.
To know that love is oneness.
The oneness of the soul.
Let this be the message.
The many masks our oneness.
Nature does grant us many.
To find in it our oneness.
Life is but a journey.
And we are all its travelers.
Traveling to find our core Self
that unites in us the many.
About this poem
Two lines from this poem: “The many lessons taught us with nature as our teacher.” As the bard of Avon, William Shakespeare, once remarked, in Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Scene iii, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” This poem was written by Karl C. Folkes in 1991 as he reflected on his marriage of 29 years at the time to the love of his life, his Asian wife of Rangoon, Burma, whom he compared to Dante’s Beatrice, as providing him with the impetus and the passion to savor lessons learned on the journey of life; the journey of the union of opposites: The East meeting the West, and the two becoming kin. “East is West and West is East. And a child shall lead The Way” (Lines from another poem of mine, in deference to Rudyard Kipling’s poetic lines that read as follows: “East is East and West is west; and ne’er the Twain shall meet.”). The transcendental journey of life requires that we suffer the unblemished child within us, the child of psyche’s wholeness, to come forth unto us, for surely it is our innermost divine child that will lead The Way. more »
Written on May 29, 1991
Submitted by karlcfolkes on September 15, 2021
Modified by karlcfolkes on June 11, 2024
- 2:34 min read
- 702 Views
Quick analysis:
| Scheme | ABCA defg hexx dxxf egxx ijck akbj Axdx dedk lmxg dxxl bxan aoin xxbx hxxk ioxm Amem Abdg xdad ABCA |
|---|---|
| Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
| Characters | 2,327 |
| Words | 513 |
| Stanzas | 20 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"The Transcendental Journey" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Jul 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/109660/the-transcendental-journey>.
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