The old paths are
Too well Trodden—²
The Horizon leans forward and
Offers space to place new steps—³
Beyond the farthest tracks of any
Domestic beast our Way leads us: to
A place where we know no names …⁴
We’re not sure where we are going but
It is somewhere Other than where we are—⁵
The End we are born to serve yet do not
See leads us to Escape by an unseen path:
When the moment comes for us to obey the call
We turn aside—obeying a Wayward Instinct—⁶
Once we’re on the Road, we’ll begin to get
Some sense of Where it can take us …⁷
“What is the way?” “Go!”—
“Where is the way?”—“Begin walking it!”⁸
Communing with the Source, travel the Pathways—
Embrace the Territory & treasure the Road.⁹
The Way I have embarked on
Is now my One and All!¹⁰
¹ Vera S. Flandorf, Things that Never Were
² J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
³ Maya Angelou, On the Pulse of Morning
⁴ Wendell Berry, Testament
⁵ Jenny Browne, Too Late to Stop Now
⁶ James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
⁷ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
⁸ Ummon, quoted by Philip Kapleau, Zen: Merging of East and West
⁹ Dongshan Liangjie tr. SF Zen Center, Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi
¹⁰ Hermann Hesse tr. Richard & Clara Winston, Magister Ludi