19. Feather Light

This pilgrim's trail

Is paved with heart-shaped stones

Rising up from the path

From under the dust

Of a million steps before my own

They push up and in

Into the sole of my shoe

Into the tired places

That only my other soul knows

Walking along the road

I walk on them past cat tail stands

Bending in the wind, like violins being played beneath a brilliant sun

Hard as they are, these stones beneath me,

I feel them cracking open the harder stone of my heart

Revealing my nature -- it is feather light -- inside.

~ Cheryl Murfin, on the Camino de Santiago