The Road I Journey

– Atahualpa Yupanquí said :
There are roads that no longer should be traveled on foot or horse, as it is the only way to gain time ‘within.’

The still of this
………Sunday morning
………caressed by the
………whispering breeze,
………the rustle, the scent
………of eucalyptus
………leaves

Sunsong through the
………clouds shadowing
………slopes

Along this near-
………solitary
………road I trek, the
………crunch of rough soil
………beneath my steady
………steps

I silence my
………self to listen
………to this breeze, those
………leaves, that sun, these
………clouds

& once I reach
………this journey’s end,
………I listen to
………the wind, the sun-
………light through the thatch roof
………of the old village
………chapel

Those cloud-shadows
………slinking across
………mountains

The river through
………a jade canyon,
………its still waters
………its rapids down-
………stream swirling, foaming
………pale green

& yonder thin
………cascade falling
………one cliff, falling
………down weathered stone,
………falling again &
………again, its stream disappearing
………in the distant
………forest

Resting upon
………this brink … within …
………just listening …

………before turning
………back from whence I had
………wandered

***

Lorraine Caputo is a poet, translator and travel writer. Her works appear in over 150 journals on six continents, and 12 chapbooks of poetry – including Caribbean Nights (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2014), Notes from the Patagonia (dancing girl press, 2017) and the upcoming On Galápagos Shores (dancing girl press, 2019). Caputo has done over 200 literary readings, from Alaska to the Patagonia. She travels through Latin America, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth.