I have learned to walk
the Path Without.
For years now
my body has scolded, “Student,
do what you are told.”
I’ve resisted for a long time and
my stubborn frame
has backed me up
but no more. Now I walk
the Path Without.
A path without
a place to rest. Without
peace, without
freedom from pain.
My body scolded.
I whimpered and yes, surrendered,
but not without a struggle.
Now I walk the Path Without.
Without the chops I once had
that made my living sing. Without
the skills I once had
that led me through love and art.
My body tells me this is
a lesson I must learn,
but I feel dumbed down, numbed
and muted, unenlightened
by being made to walk
the Path Without. What,
I ask my body, is it
that I am here to learn
in this stunting class you offer now?
My body says, you are learning
how to be diminished in one place
as you grow in others. Learning
that wholeness is not
a flawless circle but sometime
is a process of living through
a twinge of pain, a bad footing,
over and over until you begin
walking again as you first did
long ago – a step followed by a fall
following a long slide down an incline
This is the Path Without. Slow down,
my body says. Do what you are told.