MIRROR POEMS

-- Departure --

John Herlihy

The idea of the journey echoing a song yet to be sung;

Thoughts of departure make a journey already begun.

A well-placed sense of occasion invested in the voyage,

Now the land receding in goodbye, birds sing bon voyage.

Soon the vast emptiness of ocean teeming with visions,

Cresting waves and flaming sunsets as divine provisions.

Who knows but this could prove to be a trail to oblivion,

Crossing over the River Styx into a cavernous realm stygian.

Whatever it may be, may the journey go on indeed forever;

Arrival at a destination an expectation that need happen never.

The journey itself is the destination, with no real need for arrival,

Sun shining down, wind in my face, riding the wave’s crest tidal.

All eyes cast toward middle distances, the horizon beckoning;

Awaiting the vastness of the journey, the silence deafening.

-- Arrival --

John Herlihy

The idea of the journey but an echo of a song sung;

The essence of the journey has already been wrung.

A misplaced sense of occasion can no longer delay arrival;

Seagulls venture from the nearby land announcing survival.

Soon the vast emptiness of ocean teeming with visions spent;

Cresting waves and pillow clouds, God’s provisions only lent.

Now we know for sure we have arrival at journey’s end, oblivion,

Crossing over the River Styx into a cavernous realm stygian.

At journey’s end, we recognize all the hallmarks of arrival;

Goodbye to open spaces, fresh air, countless visions surging tidal.

This journey through stars a sea-faring voyage in God’s kingdom,

Now to roam amid dark alleyways and dustbins in earth’s realm.

Give me a journey and not an arrival with its weight upon my chest;

The heaviness of its tedious arrival, abandoned the journey blessed.

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(c) John Herlihy 2 September 2020