Poems for the camino 2021-04-25

[dick bird]

dick bird submitted a new resource:

Poems for the camino - A private but hopefully shared collection.

As promised on the Thread "Can you identify this Pablo Neruda poem?' Here is my collection of camino poems. Please read, enjoy and feel free to comment or suggest new ones. Cheers, Dick Bird

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[dick bird]

Thought it might be easier if I just attached the pdf. They're all on here (until I add some more).

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

Hi Dick! Here's one I wrote a year or so ago when I reached the age of 81. Don't feel remotely obliged to print it! It summed up my feelings at the time.

O I would go
How gladly I would go
Were feet and limbs not aching with old age.

O I would go
Relive those times now past
When walking on the old, well trodden paths
Gave me such joy

O I would go
Meet up again with fellow travelers
Enjoy their company – their love – whilst on the road
Leading me onward to that golden shrine
Of Santiago.

O I would go
To walk again those quiet ways
Beside the rivers, over Roman paths
Under the welcome sun of northern Spain
To Santiago.

O I would go
But now the years have come
When pain prevents the onward path
To Santiago.

Yet even now, I bless those travelers
Still in their young or middle years
Who walk the paths pre-trodden by a million feet
To Santiago.

© Stephen Nicholls

 

[dick bird]

Hi Dick! Here's one I wrote a year or so ago when I reached the age of 81. Don't feel remotely obliged to print it! It summed up my feelings at the time.

O I would go
How gladly I would go
Were feet and limbs not aching with old age.

O I would go
Relive those times now past
When walking on the old, well trodden paths
Gave me such joy

O I would go
Meet up again with fellow travelers
Enjoy their company – their love – whilst on the road
Leading me onward to that golden shrine
Of Santiago.

O I would go
To walk again those quiet ways
Beside the rivers, over Roman paths
Under the welcome sun of northern Spain
To Santiago.

O I would go
But now the years have come
When pain prevents the onward path
To Santiago.

Yet even now, I bless those travelers
Still in their young or middle years
Who walk the paths pre-trodden by a million feet
To Santiago.

© Stephen Nicholls

Thank you for this. It has been added to the collection, now numbering 64. I assume you have done the VdlP, we walked it in 2012. It was my first camino, Here is a slide show of it I put together. Hope you enjoy it.

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

Thank you for this. It has been added to the collection, now numbering 64. I assume you have done the VdlP, we walked it in 2012. It was my first camino, Here is a slide show of it I put together. Hope you enjoy it.

That brought back many memories - but memories of Spain, not specifically the VdlP. I started out on the VdlP in 2012 - what a coincidence! - but had to give up. After only three days, walking had to be abandoned due to the rain - day after day - and the feet which were so badly blistered that I had to seek emergency hospital treatment. This failure is recorded on my web site - https://snicholl5.wixsite.com/home-site/santiago
Buen camino, amigo Dick!