How Strange it is to Walk

By Georgia Laidlaw

How strange it is to walk!
How difficult!
When I learned this, I was in a rush.
A rush to grow old,
And wise,
And serious.
Respected.

Respected people walk with strength –
Pounding the ground with their feet,
And making their gravity known to the earth,
“Feel me and tremble at my weight!” Their steps say.

As if their own gravity could somehow move the earth to their will
And become their road of personal glory,
Paved with concrete and marble so they can step ever faster and harder.
That was the path I wanted to walk.

So, to slow down my walk is to wobble,
And stumble,
And tumble through thoughts and breath,
On grass, and stone, and in my home.

And it is hard because it is new,
But there is a moment of epiphany! Of enlightenment!
As I feel more turtle than human,
Like some super high frame-per-second phenomenon,
And feel bees, and flies, and tires whiz by
Faster than I feel I could walk around the whole earth!
Encompassing it in a big hug of my feet,

I could go on forever and more
If I walked like this.
“When you arrive in the Pure Land –
when you pass through the gates of Heaven
and arrive in the Kingdom of God-
how will you walk?”

My steps ask.