By Charles Robert Lindholm
each day is like a journey on a frontier trail
the fellow travelers change depending on the
time, place and destinations
fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives,
friends, relatives, classmates and coworkers come and go
you expect to have some people as partners, spouses, children, parents,
for most of if not all of your journey
others may leave or stay behind and you miss them
but it’s not like losing a partner
somehow your mind blocks out the real possibility
of losing a child or a spouse
then one day the unthinkable happens
life on the trail has claimed one of your partners
the sun rises and your heart is filled with such pain
that you think you can’t go on
there’s a grave with a cross at the side of the trail
or a spouse that’s heading down a different road
and doesn’t want you anymore
you wait a few days or weeks in that spot
hoping it’s just a bad dream
hoping that one day in the twilight
you will see them in the distance returning
it never happens
your life has changed
you’ve suffered a tragedy
you are grieving and
don’t want to travel on
but life is a journey
and the seasons and passing travelers
are constant reminders of your need
to keep moving on, but you don’t
then one day at sunset you feel different
peace has softly and quietly settled into your soul
and the pain you’ve been going to sleep with is gone
acceptance has put the pain to rest
the scars have finally formed
for the first time since that fateful day
you look out on the horizon
and feel an urge to break camp
life is a journey
it brings us a whole range of feelings
joy, happiness, love, contentment,
hurt, pain, suffering and loss
just as it changes the landscapes we see
and the one’s that change on our face
there’s acceptance of what has happened
but a certain sadness will always remain
as you look at the cross or the fork in the road
that took your loved one away
there’s a final wish that things could be different
but you remind yourself that they’re not
you do what you never wanted to do
you’re forced to finally let go
slowly you turn away from the past
and know that the time has come
life is a journey
the time has come
the time has come
to move on
Copyright © 2017 Charles Robert Lindholm – All Rights Reserved
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