There is No Path that Goes all the Way
Han Shan
Not that it stops us looking
for the full continuation.
The one line in the poem
we can start and follow
straight to the end. The fixed belief
we can hold, facing a stranger
that saves us the trouble
of a real conversation.
But one day you are not
just imagining an empty chair
where your loved one sat.
You are not just telling a story
where the bridge is down
and there's nowhere to cross.
You are not just trying to pray
to a God you imagined
would keep you safe.
No, you've come to the place
where nothing you've done
will impress and nothing you
can promise will avert
the silent confrontation.
The place where
your body already seems to know
the way, having kept
to the last, its own secret
reconnaissance.
But still, there is no path
that goes all the way,
one conversation leads
to another,
one breath to the next
until
there's no breath at all,
just
the inevitable
final release
of the burden.
And then,
wouldn't your life
have to start
all over again
for you to know
even a little
of who you had been?
David Whyte