Here comes the time of the year for going on the road and visiting friends out west along the Wild Atlantic Way . This time we will amble from Killary Harbour in County Mayo down to to the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry. From east to west, north to south and back again. We are also getting ready for the annual trip to France in September, a time of harvest and golden evening sunsets there. A time of thoughtful reflection for us, on what seems to be a rapidly changing and frightening world.
Meanwhile in the east of the country the oilseed rape fields are in flower, the bees are humming and the colour yellow glows. It brings light and some welcome distraction as will the road. I am reading this poem at the moment about endings and beginnings, “because, through it all, part of you could still walk on, no matter how, over the waves…..”
Finistere by David Whyte
The road in the end taking the path the sun had taken,
into the western sea, and the moon rising behind you
as you stood where ground turned to ocean: no way
to your future now but the way your shadow could take,
walking before you across water, going where shadows go,
no way to make sense of a world that wouldn’t let you pass
except to call an end to the way you had come,
to take out each frayed letter you brought
and light their illumined corners, and to read
them as they drifted through the western light;
to empty your bags; to sort this and to leave that;
to promise what you needed to promise all along,
and to abandon the shoes that had brought you here
right at the water’s edge, not because you had given up
but because now, you would find a different way to tread,
and because, through it all, part of you could still walk on,
no matter how, over the waves.
Oh..the brilliance of a field of rape…just gorgeous. Enjoy your travels!
Thanks Robin! Packing is the current chore! Can’t wait to be on the road.
Those are some vibrant and dramatic images! Sounds like you are in for an awesome adventure … enjoy it all.
On the adventure now, hence the delay in responding. It’s raining all the time!! But hey……..first world problems…..
I have been here twice to savour this post, your words entwined with David Whyte’s in the “golden glow” , so poignant! Best wishes for your travels. x
That is lovely to hear Susan. Thank you. On David’s point about abandoning the shoes, another friend told me that abandoning both shoes and clothes, then burning them makes for an amazing ending ritual…..here goes…….
What a vivid voyage! Accompagnied by this poem and your images, indeed, I would still walk on, over the waves of this golden ocean of flowers.
Hope I can still take immersion in the cold Atlantic Ocean. My poor bones are perishing at the very thought!!
What beautiful views!
No packing or traveling here, aside from next week’s business travel. Your first shot – exquisite.
Thank you dear! Packing is a dilemma. I have everything with me to cover for all the nuances of the Irish summer/winter weather!!! Now they can throw anything at me!!