Notes to the Hurrying Man

[Yahtzee]

Notes to the Hurrying Man
by Brian Patten

All day long I sit here doing nothing but
watching how at daybreak
birds fly out and return no fatter
when it's over. Yet hurrying about this room
you would have me do something similar;
would have me make myself a place
in that sad traffic you call a world.
Don't hurry me into it; offer
no excuses, no apologies.
Until their brains snap open
I have no love for those who rush
about its mad business;
put their children on a starting line and push
into Christ knows what madness.

You will not listen.
"Work at life!" you scream,
and working I see you rushing everywhere,
so fast most times you ignore
two quarters of half a world.
If all slow things are usless
and take no active part in nor justify your ignorance
that's fine; but why bother screaming after me?
Afraid perhaps to come to where I've stopped
in case you find
into some slow and glowing countryside
yourself escaping.
Screams measure and keep up the distance between us;
Be quieter--
I really do need to escape;
take the route you might take
if ever this hurrying is over.



I carried this poem on my thruhike. Just wanted to share.

[Rainman]

Thanks for sharing.

I feel myself slowing down already.
Perhaps I'll stop long enough to rest.
If I rest long enough, perhaps I will listen.
I will remember my dream.
I will dream of a walk in the woods where I hear only the wind in he trees and the cry of a hawk.
I will remember why I do ot want to hurry.

All of life is poetry, if we will only hear the words.

[leeki pole]

Nice post. If I could, I'd like to share another. From Og Mandino:

"The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not at the beginning; and it is not known just how many steps are needed to reach the goal. Failure may come after the thousandth step, yet success may be behind the next step. Never will I know how close the prize lies until I take another step. If that is not successful, I will take another step. I will persist until I succeed."