The Great Journey

*Let me first say that this is a long poem, but it's worth it.*
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Jade,
Pearl,
Sue-Lin.
Three sisters
Packing their bags
On their last night at home.
A great journey was ahead of them,
But each sister
Had her own journey.

Jade,
To the North.
Pearl,
To the West.
Sue-Lin,
To the South.

The next morning,
As the sun rose
And the cock crowed,
Each sister hugged their parents
And her two sisters,
Promising to write.
Then on their way they went.

After two days journey
By foot,
Each sister came to a great ravine.
It was long
As it was deep,
But soon they found a way across.
A log was cut
And a way was made.

Jade looked at it
With fear in her heart.
What if she fell?
What if she became paralyzed
With fear half way across?
What if....

At that moment,
She decided.
She decided that soon
Her parents will be old and feeble.
She decided that
They would need someone
To look after them.
She decided
To return home.

Two days later,
She told her parents
The lie she told herself.

Pearl
Also looked at the log
With dread.
What if I fell?
What if I broke the log?
What if...

But no she could
Never go home.
She boasted
To every and any one
Who would listen
That she was going
On a grand journey.

Oh no she would
Never go home,
At least not now.
So she walked
Along the ravine
Until she came upon a little village.

It was a nice village
And it was West of home.
So it was in this village
Pearl resided,
Going home
Every now and then,
But no further West she would go.

Sue-Lin
Was scared.
The ravine looked deep
And all the questions arose,
What if she fell?
What if she became paralyzed
Half way across?
What if she broke the log?
What if....

She sat for a while,
Staring at the log,
Contemplating where her future lay.

The Sue-Lin rose,
she strapped her bags tighter
To her body
And stepped on the log.

With each step,
She kept her eyes
On the end of the log.

Every time she almost lost he balance,
She imagined herself standing
On the earth on the other side.

Just as she was about
To take her last step,
The log broke
And she began to fall.

As she fell,
Sue-Lin decided
To never give up.

She reached out
And gripped the edge
Of the ravine.
Undoing her bags,
She swung them over the edge.
Then with much difficulty,
Pulled herself up.

Then Sue-Lin collapsed.

Sue-Lin laid
At the edge of the ravine,
Tears streaming down
The sides of her face.
Fear,
Adrenaline,
Happiness
Ran threw her body,
And then fatigue.
She slept there.

The next day,
Sue-Lin arose refreshed.
She packed her bags
And continued South,
Continued on her great journey.

As promised,
She wrote to her parents,
She wrote to her sisters,
Of all the adventures she had,
Of all the people she met,
Of all the food she ate.
Each day, being grateful
That she crossed the ravine.

23/3/2010

This morning in that place between sleeping and being awake, I thought about how pursuing one's dreams is like crossing a ravine. You must forget about the act of doing it, confront your fears of doing it and focus on the destination. I'm not a writer, I'm a poet and this is how I tell my stories. I hope you liked it.