A Gentling Language
A country is not known by maps alone,
nor by a brochure of renowned façades:
cathedral, harbour, monument, museum,
each entered, ticked, and left behind.
A tour may gather every celebrated stone
and still return the traveller unchanged,
for wonders, placed in untidy succession,
become a market's busy clamour.
But there are guides who understand another art.
They may lead first to narrow streets where
old brick reads the afternoon, then
to squares whose fountain answers
something always left unsaid.
From there, a garden.
From garden to a hill.
From the hill, to sea’s distant line.
Each view enlarging the last.
What seemed a fountain
becomes a lesson in patience.
What seemed a garden
becomes a chapter on return.
What seemed the sea
reveals the meaning of a road.
And when travellers at last stand
upon the country's highest overlook,
the landscape speaks in a single voice,
assembled from deliberate arrivals.
So moves a gentling language.
Not by piling image upon image
as cargo stacked upon a quay,
but by placing one thought
within the reach of another;
until a metaphor recalls a question,
whose query discovers an absence,
a leave, in turn seeking light,
whence brilliance becomes dwelling.
Then the poem is no longer scenery.
It is an itinerary of recognitions,
a sequence of chosen thresholds
through which the mind is quietly conducted
toward a thesis too large for any solitary line to bear:
that meaning arrives
not all at once,
but as a country slowly
unfolding,
each horizon
preparing the next.
.
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Author:
crypticbard (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: October 19th, 2026 05:23
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 10
- Users favorite of this poem: sorenbarrett, RSM0812, Tristan Robert Lange
Offline)
Comments7
This poem in my density I had to read several times. Its meaning is dense and deep there is a metaphor within a metaphor and as the poem itself says the meaning came slowly but with force unfolding. Cryptic this poem is not for the casual reader it is for the serious minded the patient, the student of life. Very nicely written it unfolds a map to knowledge not a GPS but an intimate acquaintance with the geography. Lovely and a fave
Well, this style is far and few in between. It takes it out of you. And I decided to post it up today before I lost the gumption to do so. So, thank you dear friend for putting up with it. 🙏🏻🕊️
An exercise for the brain that I enjoy and need even if running in the wrong direction. You are most welcome friend
an intimate unfolding piece
Glad that it unfolded as such dear friend. Thank you so much 🙏🏻🕊️
most welcome, much enjoyed
"Each horrizon. Preparing the next". Great ending. To me it explains the serenical natural order of things and of course a vacation to remeber.
Yes, my friend! Some vacations do make that mark and add to us. Most grateful to you. 🙏🏻🕊️
A fine write A. Yep, it's dense to me too - cryptically dens to my brain box. Fido says to me: 'Give up trying to work it all out; you never do!' I will ask him what it all means - he knows. lol.
Let’s post some of his poems as well, that would be a bit of fun!
He\'s probably too cryptic for me to understand. I could post some, but not have the foggiest idea of what he\'s on about. lol.
Hello, arqios,
The intangible chapters of language where its essence evolves. Remarkable poetry.
Wishing you all the best,
Tony.
Thank you, dear Tony, extracting the essence is a most sublime undertaking! 🙏🏻🕊️
This can be the Resulting Feelings or the Awareness you get from Meditation.
To see the World in a New light. To Understand.
You know, my friend, I've often found the most memorable places are the ones nobody thought to put in a guidebook. Give me an old side street and a little curiosity any day! 🌹🖤🙏🕯️🐦⬛
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