The Point is to Walk It

Last night I dreamed about walking. Perhaps because I am in Lisboa and walking a great deal, reading maps and finding and losing myself in where I am going. Finding that the places you planned to go are not nearly the gift of the places  you often end up by misake. Or perhaps the mistake is a plan you simply cannot see being written.

Recently,  a new poet friend, Oscar Bermeo said, in regards to the road and Machado's poem about the same, "The point is to walk it."

PROVERBIOS Y CANTARES - XXIX

Caminante, son tus huellas
el camino y nada más;
Caminante, no hay camino,
se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,
y al volver la vista atrás
se ve la senda que nunca
se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante no hay camino
sino estelas en la mar.

Wanderer, your footsteps
the road, and nothing more;
wanderer, we have no road,
we make the road by walking.
As you walk you make the road,
and to look back
is to see that never
can we pass this way again.
Wanderer, there is no road,
only traces in the sea.
 -Antonio Machado
 

Last night I dreamed of walking. Today, I wrapped my lunch in a map of the city and set out to find what I cannot yet imagine.