Endless Journey

Concrete minds, abstract lives,

master of your fate.

The tired man at last arrives,

while you just sit and wait...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

1.4.73 (European)
(April 1, 1973)
Brussels
Photo: Ringling Bros. Museum
Sarasota, FL (Feb. 28. 2012

Reviews

[*** Hey Jude***]

This makes for a striking thought, as you intertwine the visual with the written word! Well done ~ Jude :-)

[Empirik]

This has meaning to me. I like it. :)

[Mark]

"Concrete mind, abstract lives"...
This is to me the very crux of this poem, virtually a poem in it's own right!, in which the man, exhausted from his trek, contemplates the paradox that it is his very fixedness of mind, his locked-in-ness, that creates the pain and confusion he is living in reaction to the unpredictability and spontaneity of life. I could not help myself but visualize his head lying in the lap of the stone man kneeling behind him and being comforted by "him"!

[?]

Sometimes I feel as though my mind is made out of concrete...or wait maybe that is not my mind thats full of concrete...lol
I like the contrast in the first line...concrete mind...hard, blocked, cant get or find or speak what you want...no options. Abstract lives...free..colorful...options/thoughts are endless. oh geeeeeez does this make any sense or is this some sort of abstract speculation...lol
Nicely done Alan...like thoughts behind this

[Shy Girl]

Two different ways to ponder the world's issues. Stoic and free of self...I like that. On one hand you have eternal contemplation with no chance of finding what it is you seek...and on the other there is a type of wide open "let the thoughts run amuck" emotion. I just love that picture. The path there is symbolic too, like the paved way around may just be the fasted road to result...more so than point A to point B straight line from one to the other. (cant describe that one that well unless I really think...Ironically...about it) First impressions and all ... ponderin piece :)

[Poetic Beauty]

deep meaning in this short piece.

[Coyote Poetry]

A good photo and words. Good to rest when we can. Thank you for the amazing poetry.
Coyote

[Robbie~xoxo~]

I love this! Perfect picture. Tired, exhausted, yet fulfilled!...What a wonderful feeling to accomplish the goals in life! :)

[Chris]

What did you see behind your eyes when you wrote this?... Was it 3 AM - an old rusted bench under a tired streetlamp in Brussels? Sitting on a stone jetty, the pungent odor washing over you - chill and cold, in Haarstadt, Norway? Perhaps while sitting at an outdoor cafe while at lunch watching the passersby in Rotterdam? Sitting on a front porch step in Hamburg? A bus stop in Paris? A fountain's edge in a forgotten Italian town? Rumania? Hungary? Czeck-land?

I respect THAT vision!