The Final Journey
By John Herlihy

As I embark on the final journey,
I happily bid goodbye to all those earlier years.
I give thanks for the blessings life has conveyed,
That helped me to overcome my fears.
To embrace the unknown in miraculous wonder;
To gather a life of seeking as treasured plunder.

Hopefully, my deeds have proper balance,
When it comes to settling my account.
Every road has been a pilgrimage;
I have not hidden away in a hermitage.
Every stranger seemed a pilgrim in disguise;
Their humanity became a lesson in being wise.

My life has been a journey somewhere,
Into the unknown with no curiosity to spare.
I have followed the destiny given me,
And willingly embraced any joy and despair.
I would do it all over once again,
If it meant I could my errors repair.

The road holds the memory of effort,
Striving forward across harsh terrain,
Facing in surrender all life’s challenges.
Pursuing desires of which the heart sang.
Changes in weather encouraged my footsteps;
The patter of nature’s rain entered my dreams.

They say that silence is golden;
We are to our innermost nature beholden.
In my footsteps lay vanishing dragons,
The smoke-filled residue of my lifelong fears.
The road and journey before me now to see,
To unveil the mystery what it means to be me.

Once in a remarkable journey in a dream,
I came across a child carrying my soul.
Appearing as an image in Heaven’s reflection,
Replicating the meaning of Divine Perfection.

You entered life’s truth and beauty, the child said.
No, I replied, its truth and beauty entered me.
I had been living my life in fear and dread,
Until my soul saw an emerging light instead.
It filled me with a heart-felt desire for God
A spark born in infancy, an ember as I onward plod.

The years of journey have left their mark,
Only my eyes have never grown old.
If anything they may have grown in wisdom,
Having witnessed a life now well nigh told.
Curling around my legs floats a dew-filled mist,
Before me a few more steps to take I cannot resist.