Best Camino Poems
Grünes Paradies
Am Seitenarm der Mandau
Neben der Strasse
Helles Vogelgezwitscher
Aus den Sträuchern am Ufer
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Green paradise
At a side arm of the Mandau
So close by the street
Bright bird's twitter
From the shrubs at the shore
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Verde paraíso
Al ramal del Río Mandau
Cerca de la calle
Cantos vivos de pájaros
De los arbustos en la orilla
Let me tell you a story …
Many pilgrims had passed this way before him
but had rarely stopped before trudging up the muddy path to the top of the hill
and then disappearing out of sight forever.
But he lingered at this shady spot at the bottom of the dip in the track.
The old stone tablet in the wall was overgrown with moss and ivy.
Rain droplets hung at the tip of every ivy leaf.
Catching the daylight, they twinkled like some distant constellation.
He pulled back the ivy, scraped off the moss to reveal the ancient writing.
By chance or maybe by some hidden force,
this place still belonged to the pilgrim’s way.
But the pseudo-pilgrims had no time to waste as celebrity beckoned.
Eyes fixed on the hill’s summit
they were oblivious of both this place and its significance.
The inscription read
If you look too hard you will not see
If you talk too much you will not hear
If you think too much you will not learn
If you walk too fast you will not arrive
If you are true to yourself you will be content
You will unlock the secret door
He reflected on what he had read but not too deeply and then smiled.
He had another 150 miles to walk which he could do in six long, arduous days
but now it would take him ten days of contemplation.
The climb up the hill was different from what had gone before.
It was exhilarating for the wonders of nature were all around to experience and enjoy.
Every step was stimulating.
The inscription filled his mind.
Slowly but surely the door opened.
The days passed and he realised the pilgrimage was of the mind not of the body.
Walking gave him space and time.
Ten days later he was uplifted and at peace
having stepped through the door of enlightenment
once secret and now so obvious.
He smiled at the pseudo-pilgrims there with him at the end.
He felt sadness for theirs was a superficial achievement
judged against each other with a materialistic prize.
They had been on a walk but not a pilgrimage.
He gave them one last glance,
turned and strolled into life.
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25 April 2022
First Place Contest Name: Form N - Narrative - New Poems
Sponsor: Constance La France
Chosen Theme: #1 Journey
Camino Poetica
Punching letters and keyboard penetration,
fostered dreams convey as salvation.
To that land of sacredness beyond mountains,
tasting sweet mothermilk healing fountains.
Visual rendezvous with colors from a rainbow,
mist and vapors of life captured for tomorrow.
Elixir from internal flame with its intuitive dreams,
caring firmament follow every thought it seems.
Misty blue keeps on rising turning to fine rain,
nature baptism without procedure to claim.
Cradle of art and science show a limitless way,
words still wet and fresh from mysteries to convey.
A ballad of ancient time repeats its ancestor’s vision,
poetic thoughts and its mirrored permission.
Lights from the Camino are the ever living cure,
that every poetic moment is magical for sure.
Toilsome journey taken
Challenging resistance
Seeking self-awareness
In reflective moments
Connect with the divine
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lying on the beach with her,
looking up at the night sky,
the rusted chrome bumper
on our car above in the lot
seemed farther away
than the stars in Orion’s belt.