Sweaty Pilgrim
v 2.0
“Nowadays, to be on the road is to be home.”
St Columba
St Columba
Over the long, hot summer of 2018 I spent ten weeks on the road, on a "hitch-hiking pilgrimage around sacred places and public houses of the British Isles".
And two years later I'm finally getting round to writing it all up!
Please find links to the "Daily Dispatches" below – which will be updated daily. I hope. Given that I'm writing at the rate of knots, and the ink is often still quite wet, please forgive me any typographic trespasses and middle-aged repetitions...
Warning: contains swearing and poetry.
One Love
Stephen
May 17th 2020
Daily Dispatches
from the pilgrim way
updated almost every day
(click relevant day to reveal full dispatch)
Thursday 17th May (Eve of Pilgrimage)
Friday 18th May (He's off)
Saturday 19th May
Sunday 20th May
Monday 21st May
Tuesday 22nd May
Wednesday 23rd May
Thursday 24th May
[then ill for four days]
Tuesday 29th May
from the pilgrim way
updated almost every day
(click relevant day to reveal full dispatch)
Thursday 17th May (Eve of Pilgrimage)
Friday 18th May (He's off)
Saturday 19th May
Sunday 20th May
Monday 21st May
Tuesday 22nd May
Wednesday 23rd May
Thursday 24th May
[then ill for four days]
Tuesday 29th May
Pilgrim’s progress
Just put one foot
in front of the other
leave all fancy
(angelic-apparition / beatific-vision / instant-enlightenment)
plans behind
And pray daily
that sore twinge
on the bottom of your big toe
doesn’t slip and slide into a blister
Trust the path before you
and if you believe in God
trust God
otherwise
just trust your legs
Trust the path
trust your knees
trust your feet
trust your toes
No fancy pants
no fancy plans
just one pilgrim foot
in front
of the other pilgrim foot
and then that foot in front of the other
And when you ease into your wayfarer’s bed
at the end of another well-trod day
invite your aching salty smelly body
to softly open its pilgrim belly
and to the rafters raise
exhausted hymns of gratitude
and silent songs of praise
Just put one foot
in front of the other
leave all fancy
(angelic-apparition / beatific-vision / instant-enlightenment)
plans behind
And pray daily
that sore twinge
on the bottom of your big toe
doesn’t slip and slide into a blister
Trust the path before you
and if you believe in God
trust God
otherwise
just trust your legs
Trust the path
trust your knees
trust your feet
trust your toes
No fancy pants
no fancy plans
just one pilgrim foot
in front
of the other pilgrim foot
and then that foot in front of the other
And when you ease into your wayfarer’s bed
at the end of another well-trod day
invite your aching salty smelly body
to softly open its pilgrim belly
and to the rafters raise
exhausted hymns of gratitude
and silent songs of praise
The Map of Possibilities and The Map of Actualities
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