There is a road
That winds all the way
from lands before your birth,
along the pathways of your life,
until times as yet unseen.
It is beautiful on all sides,
and dark, and terrible too,
where we stand, forgetting,
on the other side of the light.
From the earth’s vital force
coursing up your limbs
from the soles of your feet,
the road travels up
to your sacred center of gravity,
into the sinewy trails of muscle
holding stories of your life
along the solid, stoic spine
that, as you walk, will not bend,
stoop or fall, despite the ache,
knowing how far there is to go,
and how much there is to carry.
The road travels up, lies ahead,
but we must not get caught
in the game of directions.
It is enough to see that the map
we have set for ourselves to follow
has its mirror in our selves,
and that hold love for one
while forsaking the other
is to remove the dimensions,
and forego our possible destinations.
May we aim to infuse all the pathways
with the love that will ignite them.
– Tammy Takahashi
There's No War in World 