The Pilgrimage

A soft-sided,
well worn,
briefcase
slouches
in a closet

One side agape,
a red lanyard
stuffed inside –
occupational identity

A row of black, brown, and gray pumps
line up beside it – a thin layer of dust
betraying idleness.

Silent, unblinking,
a television recedes
into the wall,
flanked on either side
by smiling images –
shadows of nostalgia.

Stacks of books
and journals
rumour
a scholarly mind.

The woman,
to whom all these trivialities
once had relevance
is no longer here.

She has been called to another purpose.

(Originally written in 2014, The Pilgrimage strives to help me understand the purpose behind losing all to illness. Image my own)

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VJ

Permission to write, paint, and imagine are the gifts I gave myself when chronic illness hit - a fair exchange: being for doing. Relevance is an attitude. Humour essential.

40 thoughts on “The Pilgrimage”

  1. VJ, the images you share tell such a poignant story. Sometimes the things around us embody our personalities. I really love the verbs you chose – slouches, betraying, flanked, and especially rumour. These verbs carry the images and places them deeply. Such a great read.

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  2. I really liked so many lines for the way they could stand alone – like the lanyard and occupational identify – and then the ” black, brown, and gray pumps” with dust –
    – and then to connect it all with the pilgrimage and how illness brought so many changes really added fullness. – however, I would not say you have “lost all to illness” – maybe career areas and all that – but would your poetry be this amazing had it not been for the illness? Would you have made all of these blog connections? And all the extra time with family – that is priceless.
    And so the detours, unplanned changes and career derailed does not mean all is lost! 🙂

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  8. love the descriptive imagery and then the last line said it all.. i’ve actually been replacing and throwing out some of this stuff that no longer serves me.. thank goodness. but when an Occassion comes up, i think “where is that —‘ LOL

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    1. Thank you, I.V. I had accomplished so much – reaching my dreams. As if life had appeased me, then ripped it away, but a pilgrimage is not without revelation,so it’s not all bad.

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