Journey of the Heart: A Pilgrim's Odyssey Part II

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 )