A Pilgrim’s Question

Pilgrimage is a way I think about the middle part of transition. It’s a passage inward rather than a passage to a destination and it requires commitment, focus and willingness to risk, much like a physical pilgrimage. This poem is about the inner pilgrimage, initially written for a group of mid-lifers in the midst of a life transition.

A Pilgrim’s Question

What is the one

question

that persists,

that has been

with you

all along?

 

A companion

question

that underlies

your life

like a vein of

gold

in the earth

of your being?

 

Invoke and savour

that question.

Let go

the answer.

Let go

the lesser

questions, the ones

that invoke

the smaller self.

 

Find your

companion

question, the one

that underlies

your life

like the

dazzling

vein of gold

deep

in the earth

of your being.

Di Percy

December, 2018

First published in “Standing in the Fire” by Diana E. Percy, 2020