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Writer's picturecherylmurfin

3. Your Friend, Simple Act & Counting Chickens




Your friend


Remember

When I told you

About this road I wanted to walk

Because I read somewhere

It’s a good place to search for God

If she’s out there

Or my own truth if she isn’t?


Remember

When I stressed,

It goes many, many, miles

And by many, I meant hundreds

Which is a lot of time together

Even for people in the highest of spirits

And especially for those in the lowest.


Remember

When I said that if I had

Just one word to describe myself

I’d cheat and use a hyphen for “semi-monastic?”

Which is to say I hoped to walk alone a lot

To get lost in my own experience.


Remember

When I explained

That the road is unique to everyone?

That even Siamese twins walking the same path

Would head in different directions?

When I warned that we each must carry whatever we bring,

No matter how heavy, and get comfortable with discomfort?


Remember

When I asked you about all of this?

When I said I need my walk to be about me, not you, OK?

And you shook your head yes and said, “OK.”

OK, which I interpreted as understanding.

OK, which I took as consent.

OK, which I heard as “I will take care of myself.”


Tell me

At what point did you mishear or I misstate

The rules of this road?

And who invited your friend Depression along

After he showed up unannounced while we were still packing?


~ Cheryl Murfin, along the Camino de Santiago

 

Simple Act


i can see now

there is power

in the simple act

of putting one foot

in front of the other

and moving forward

in any direction


~ Cheryl Murfin, along the Camino de Santiago

 

Counting Chickens


How carefully

I must enjoy

Your boosted spirits

And that authentic smile

Across your lips

When you stop to scratch a dog


Carefully I say

Because

I must be ready

Just in case

The fog you feel lifting

Is really a hurricane

Hanging off the coast


Or that sweet old dog

Is old but hungry

And kills the chickens

I so yearn to start counting

At the first upward curl

Of your lips


~ Cheryl Murfin, along the Camino de Santiago

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