Saturday, October 19, 2013

proceed to the root


Sixteen hundred miles 
from here to there and back again
through six states
over a web of interstates and highways
two turnpikes, and steel bridges in yellow,
and back roads too
the ones not in the original plan
but the yield there, oh how very precious,
the pieces of a mystery clicking in to place
and I think "what if we hadn't taken that turn"
what a loss that would've been.

All the way, and particularly the closer we got to home
the robotic voice of the GPS admonished us
"proceed to the route"
each time we took a different way
but it echoed in my head as
"proceed to the root"

proceed to the route:
continue forward after an interruption or detour

proceed to the root:
return back to the essence and source of a thing

both ways
are truth

both ways
saw me home

and both ways 
brought me 
here.