"It's a dangerous business, going out of your door. You step into the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to….” J.R.R. Tolkien
If you remain vigilant as you are swept along, you’ll encounter joy in even the smallest of scenes...
Fellow travelers for instance...
You might encounter mountains in whose shadows, a thousand generations have lived and died...
As you gaze upon these ancient roots of the world, it is entirely possible that shabby newcomers will interlope for a time, their light garish against the serenity of the scene...
At other times, your view remains unmarred; as if frozen in the very time that passes unnoticed to the mountain...
Hereabouts, you’ll encounter other sentinels, ancient to your momentary gaze, but mere infants in the eyes of the mountain...
Some of these lonely watchers wear their age more noticeably, but show kindness. They looked out upon this scene when your kind was but a whispered rumor and they’ll remain when all memory of you fades to nothing...
In endless cycles the ancient is content to share space with the new...
As you leave one scene to continue on down the road, you glimpse places in space and time that no amount of effort will bring you back to...
Bygone glory now intertwined with pursuits of the moment...
From time to time along your journey, you come upon the edge of the sea. And so, with no path before you, are forced to turn aside; to find other roads...
Roads strewn with color; beckoning you forward...
Roads where you encounter fellow travelers who came to this place by no road at all...
Sometimes, you encounter places where roads collide in their thousands; each one stretching out towards distant horizons, if only in your mind’s eye. Here, it is quite possible that you will tarry overly long ere resuming your physical wanderings...
But resume you will, meandering down roads which pass through places clearly marked...
Encountering the thoughtfulness of sojourners who came before you...
Distinguishing familiar patterns out of place, such as snowflakes masquerading as a flower to survive the season's heat...
Or a liquid whirlpool...
Suspended in wood amongst nearby trees...
You’ll encounter contradictions, such as a nearly abandoned street in the middle of what was meant to be a busy urban landscape...
Or sprouting green set against the frozen woods...
Down certain roads you’ll happen upon ancient paths, better left to ancient things with long forged aversions to your companionship...
In this moment of hesitation, perhaps you’ll notice the dying sun...
In the sudden stillness, you’ll hear the whispering wind through slumbering trees...
And you’ll see your road transformed to ghostly shadow by the moonlight’s embrace...
Without conscious thought you’ll find you have come full circle, back to the very doorway from which you set out some time ago. Amongst the familiar, content to know that the roads still wait, you’ll sink into a warm slumber. As you sleep, your latest journeys will be carefully woven into the tapestry of your dreams, layered upon and joined with all of those places your road has ever led you.
May the new year bring you wondrous and joyful new journeys my friends! Thank you for joining me in my own.
