Best Travellers Poems
The Travellers Promise
I will wander from the path
enter the wild wood
deliberate in that great unknown
Not ever look back
draw my fingers over kind bark
inhale a thousand things
and thread there lightly
in silent respect
Listening carefully
to the breath, the song of the wind
I will fear no shadows
or long forgotten histories
nor change my way
nor alter course
nor regret
Today I stood Me in front of a mirror
And invited Myself for a talk
There we all stood for a minute or two
...looking at each other... and into each other
Searching... appreciating... criticising
Hey guys, thiz wassup ... I initiated the chat
Time has come for us to set some things right
Here we stand in a reality that has proven its determination to evolve
Our priorities must hence be put through a referendum
...that is if they are to stand a chance to crystallize in the realities ahead
Me wants a life of luxury and delight
Myself wants a life of philanthropy to my kind
I want triumph and greatness in life
Somewhere we must draw the line
All our dreams are possible if we form an alliance
And if all our dreams we position in the order of achievement
One at a time... each in a predetermined line
We shall focus our attention, resources and efforts...
...on that goal which is best favoured by the present time
This I assure you, Me and Myself
Will ensure our success
Our organisation will leave no room for any dream to rot with mould
For if we sit, analyse and prioritize
No efforts will be wasted in futility
Remember that this is life
...and in life everything is precise
You cannot twist the arm of time
...and you cannot bend the lane of fate
In life nothing ever arrives a moment late
So I say, Me and Myself
Let’s sit at a round table and agree to work as one
For it is only when we exist in harmony
...that we shall each wear the crown of glory
All of us have in us the dream of life with ease
All of us know in life nothing comes out of a mere wish
Efforts must precede the wish if it is to crystallize in the realm of real
Now here we are
Three travellers in one body
Here we stand at the crossroads of fate
Whichever lane we take bound to arrive at destiny
For sure we cannot take all roads at once
So I suggest, let’s put our ends in a line
Let’s start by following a route
...to the end nearest from where we stand
For I believe thence we shall find the means to reach the other ends with ease
Came to this country little suitcase in hand
For a better life in this wonderful land
Pockets were sort of empty but he mentally planned
7 days of school-work as he desperately could,
To send money back to care for his family
Found a Haitian princess to live ever happily
Then something happened
I came about gradually
But actually,
I was second in line
My sibling was the first to cry through birth
It was I who naturally did all to hurt
Playing with greens acting a jerk
Misdemeanors causing people’s blood vessels to burst.
Gone are the days where I grew up in church
Went from being colorful to emphasizing the darkness of my worth
My mind used to be free now it has the same shackles of a slave
Dreaming of unfathomable thoughts- the sum of my fears
Half a time ago the world’s producers of pure tears
Alone in this world
I tricked myself into believing that no one really cared.
I was born to move, bound by momentum
destined to wander, beckoned by distance.
I reject chains. They corrupt like venom.
Never to be slowed or misled by assistance.
If I am weary, I will rest for a night,
lay down, my mind free to dream and explore.
But I will wake ready, before first light;
this calling of New I cannot ignore.
I will leave behind, when I say this pledge,
ever setting suns and fast fading faces.
I will carry with me vast horizon’s edge,
and the memories of places…
Turn around on your journey, friend,
and look back to this hill
I occupy,
arms raised...hello? goodbye?
Silhouette on your horizon
but now the sun is high.
My travellers
are all strung out
on dusty roads and highways.
Not surprised, those who
know where to find me
at this extended view.
But you
in blazing trails across the landscape
changed the contour of my land.
No matter now where
we each choose to stand;
I know your pack, your cap, your cart.
Look back, my friend;
at every turn, I recognize
you still.
I remember you
You told me you were a time travellor.
I fell in love with you anyway.
Without you time meant nothing to me.
I knew time travel
was a fantastic imagination gone wild..
But I was infatuated
even if I did not believe you.
To prove it.
You asked me
where in time did I want to go.
I knew where I knew when.
I followed you into your house.
You kissed me and I fell asleep.
When I awakened she was there.
So beautiful and young so pretty
She was stunning I don’t remember her
So much like this..
She said can I help you sir?
I realized she did not recognize me.
I was at leat twenty years older than her.
I whispered softly as the tears of joy
Fell down my face
Mom it’s me Jude.
I have missed you so much.
Then I was back from time to now.
Did you see her she asked.
I said yes .
Do you believe me now
I said yes.
She said where next
do you wish to see.
I said five years into
the future from now.
She kissed me again
I fell asleep and when I awoke
I saw my beautiful timetravellor.
She was as beautiful as ever.
I saw our children our home our life.
I knew she was my soul mate.
She smiled at me so full of promises.
Do you like what you see.
I nodded yes very much.
I have traveled
a thousand years to find you.
It is us
she said.
It is where we are destined to be.
You stank, and poo was once revealed when pants were pulled in playing field. Hard round briquettes, quite dry, like dung with straw sun-hard and undigested.
All kinds of unkind taunts and silly songs were sung and rumour did the rounds of Traveller’s goings on in dog-bark fenced compound.
Nothing known, but always just suggested.
What were your meals in trailer park, beside the fields, beside the rec,
beside the school where boys all played you for the fool, and girls sang ‘stinky bum’, and parent’s day didn’t see your dad, and did you even have a mum?
You struck a chin full fist when foot deployed to halt your playground dinky toy. Your anger clearly boiled beneath. Did you every day recoil from father’s buckled belt, or older brother’s fist, or even mother’s wounding cuffs confined to caravan
on drizzle chilly days as autumn shed cold leaf?
You walked with ricket bandied legs, a waddled painful labour.
I too was your tormentor, on endless friendless days and lonely playground corners, and classes where the empty desk was always nearest neighbour.
Your white and skinny scabied form found true excuse from sports.
No one saw 'there', beneath your shabby shorts, except the school and nit nurse. We always thought your underpants were wet, or stained, or worse,
and most days did you even wear your soiled and threadbare underwear?
Would these older opened eyes now see you as a son?
Would softened heart now empathise with how you had begun
your life and realise the pain and strife that laid your path,
where mine was carefree fun?
These older eyes are sorry now, with memory’s regret.
But yet that child knew not the pain that surely comes to all,
and tempered hearts cannot relive the spring before the fall.
tracing lines on the syntax
grammar cascades down resonant folds
hand over hand
mishandled hands lost grip on the handholds
travelling through time diagonally and sideways
found by no one for infinity of days
lost for never
yet at the same time always
GONE
Some fly in their jumpsuits,
others are thrown naked
to a place where thoughts are fig leaves.
A few conjugate dots of light
into a body-language.
Many shoot off like toothpaste from a tube,
tugging slinky bodies behind them.
Star charts are parochial,
they map the contours of rumpled sheets.
Some run in the park with sleeping dogs.
Such travelers are hummingbirds riding rodeo bulls,
New fliers leap from sinking bodies,
fledgling wings flapping.
They fly open-mouthed and wonder
if the rest of you will ever make it.
~~
At breakneck speed I hurl fast
Towards impending doom
Singing an after work tune
Excited to get home to nothing.
I pass a car swerving as I
Swear out a gentle concern
Ignoring what lies ahead as I
Pass it in an instant
A reminiscent color scheme
Wizzes by my driver’s side
Peering wearily into blackness
At those brilliant red eyes
Sinking into a relaxed state
Calming wonders in my mind
I turn up the happiness
That blocks out the outside.
Red eyes… closer than they
Dare to peer suddenly
Decide my fate at 100 mph
In a blurry limp hurry I collide...
Two souls meet in the blackness.
One, singing a tune to sound waves
The other, in a wireless haze..
Both excited to get home to nothing.
The gypsies’ caravans,
Not welcome in our town,
Had parked and settled down,
Appeared to have no plans,
Were shouted at by grans,
Disliked for their renown.
They called them tramps and thieves,
Not having an address,
And said they’d leave a mess;
I thought they’d read tea leaves,
Wear clothes with fancy sleeves -
Was wrong I must confess.
They left the site a dump;
And people got the hump.
22 April, for Lisa’s Gypsies, tramps and thieves contest
Using the HexSonnetta, a form created by Andrea
We are all travellers to destiny,
on the unknown highway of life.
Some roll in glassy tortoise shells.
Others move as simple chameleons.
Still others fly in dead birds in sky;
and also swim as frogs in cages.
If you travel in tortoise shells,
do not splash mud on chameleons.
Birds of the air, honor those below.
Whatever they are to you, love them.
If you swim as frogs in warm waters,
and rest on land as reptile king,
do not flash your fangs in the air.
Harmony, mutual respect is supreme.
Blame no one, frown on no one.
The tortoise, chameleon, birds, frogs,
each with own merit, or shortcoming;
let’s move as brothers in peace.
We travel as brothers hand in hand;
each with a baggage on the back.
and an envelope with message sealed,
the contents of which no one knows.
I’m at my piano like Mercury
Trying to write a grand sweet song
It’s already painted in the windows
I’m copying off the stars
Don’t give up on us my Lord
I can pray all night long
Cry an ocean for You
I can see the Milky Way when I look down from my flying carpet
We’ll call number by number
I really lost my head last night
I kicked out and spat
Mamma just got cuffed again
I was the hulk and shrek
Where was my Fiona when I screamed her name
When I needed rescuing
I was scared of losing everything
But Security they could not control me
I roared like a jungle gorilla
Pounced like a cougar
Bulletproof and emerald
I took slow revenge for all my innocents
Dragged the rest of you with me
In a a switch I turned from an owl to a lark
We are all travellers,
moving through time,
walking roads we did not choose,
carrying stories no one fully knows.
Life gives us no map,
only moments
some soft as morning light,
some heavy as storms.
We meet people along the way,
some stay, some leave,
some become memories before we are ready.
We build, we lose, we love, we break.
We hold on, we let go.
Sometimes, we run,
sometimes, we stop and wonder
what was the point of it all?
But the journey does not wait.
It pulls us forward,
whispers that there is more,
even when we are too tired to listen.
And one day, we step beyond the last horizon,
leaving behind the footprints of our existence,
while the road continues without us.
We, the travellers
Many people when they get elderly travel the world
to see famous places and other cultures.
When they die, they will have no recollection of the travels.
I have been to every country that has a seaport,
working long hours, it was dark when I got up and dark
when the toil was over.
I might as well not have been there, because the docks
are always the same, bars, whores and booze and
they all looked the same, and the women were selling
the same wares whether black or brown, but for a man
alone it was the nearest he came to love.
When the big shadow falls on me, it will be forgotten.