The Transcendental Journey



Life is but a journey.
And we are all its travelers.
Traveling to find our core Self
that unites in us the many.

The many selves within us.
Seeking to find their union.
Seeking to find wholeness.
The journey of the soul.

That journey never ceases.
It is without completion.
Outwards its form is physical.
A union of two bodies.

Two bodies with one purpose.
The purpose of fulfillment.
Fulfillment sought from outside.
Desiring to find wholeness.

Yet within such union
is desire of the soul.
To find the straight and narrow.
A path that is less traveled.

That path is inward leading.
Though many seek it outwards.
Seeking to find their true self.
In the image of The Other.

‘Twas  on such a wayward journey
I met you as a traveler.
You on the path going inwards.
With me looking only outwards.

I met you on the journey
in the middle of the path
where like Dante courting Beatrice
you gave me cause to pause.

To pause about life’s purpose.
And what it holds for each one.
The many lessons taught us.
With nature as our teacher.

To stop and ponder with you
the many joys of life:
How nature pours her blessings
on every single soul.

How Wisdom speaks with softness
and Knowledge walks with Grace.
And in those precious moments
we’ve learned of sadness too:

How Life and Death are partners.
How Lie disguises Truth.
How Pride mocks shy Humility.
How Anger battles Peace.

In the middle of the journey
we’ve talked of Love and Pain.
Of War and dismal Suffering.
Of Happiness and Peace.

We’ve praised the sky at sunrise
and hailed the moon at night.
We’ve danced the dance of lovers
and sung the song of dreams.

We’ve drunk the wine of sages
and boiled the bitter herbs.
We’ve bathed our skins in precious oils
and soaked our feet in myrrh.

We’ve chatted without ceasing.
And now we move again.
To face the path that lies ahead.
To weave the web of Life.

I met you on the journey.
That journey we call life.
We’ve moved in tandem as one.
Weaving the web of Life.

Life is but a journey.
To find ourselves in others.
To know that love is oneness.
The oneness of the soul.

Let this be the message.
The many masks our oneness.
Nature does grant us many.
To find in it our oneness.

Life is but a journey.
And we are all its travelers.
Traveling to find our core Self
that unites in us the many.

About this poem

Two lines from this poem: “The many lessons taught us with nature as our teacher.” As the bard of Avon, William Shakespeare, once remarked, in Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Scene iii, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” This poem was written by Karl C. Folkes in 1991 as he reflected on his marriage of 29 years at the time to the love of his life, his Asian wife of Rangoon, Burma, whom he compared to Dante’s Beatrice, as providing him with the impetus and the passion to savor lessons learned on the journey of life; the journey of the union of opposites: The East meeting the West, and the two becoming kin. “East is West and West is East. And a child shall lead The Way” (Lines from another poem of mine, in deference to Rudyard Kipling’s poetic lines that read as follows: “East is East and West is west; and ne’er the Twain shall meet.”). The transcendental journey of life requires that we suffer the unblemished child within us, the child of psyche’s wholeness, to come forth unto us, for surely it is our innermost divine child that will lead The Way. 

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Written on May 29, 1991

Submitted by karlcfolkes on September 15, 2021

Modified by karlcfolkes on June 11, 2024

2:34 min read
705

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCA defg hexx dxxf egxx ijck akbj Axdx dedk lmxg dxxl bxan aoin xxbx hxxk ioxm Amem Abdg xdad ABCA
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 2,327
Words 513
Stanzas 20
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Karl Constantine FOLKES

Retired educator of Jamaican ancestry with a lifelong interest in composing poetry dealing particularly with the metaphysics of self-reflection; completed a dissertation in Children’s Literature in 1991 at New York University entitled: An Analysis of Wilhelm Grimm’s ‘Liebe Mili’ (translated into English as “Dear Mili”), Employing Von Franzian Methodological Processes of Analytical Psychology. The subject of the dissertation concerned the process of Individuation. more…

All Karl Constantine FOLKES poems | Karl Constantine FOLKES Books

74 fans

Discuss the poem The Transcendental Journey with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "The Transcendental Journey" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/109660/the-transcendental-journey>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    October 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    0
    days
    4
    hours
    30
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the _______
    A choice
    B sense
    C difference
    D change