The Steps I Tread

Photo: WHB – Thames Towpath: Dec.2020

Trudging the towpath
I come across an
intriguing puzzle path
these hieroglyphs of passage
arrest my motion
defying disturbance
and imposing their mystery
to impede my progress

Now I fear to tread
to de-sanctify their presence
and destroy their meaning
with my care-less trudge

These disguised but so readable signs
I am unable to fathom
greater skills than I have
are required to tell the story
of who, of what
has gone before
and of how I have come
to where I am

However fraught
I remain
caught
in an indecipherable
present
struggling to construe
just what Now means

Mystery abounds
these cuneiform cartouches
defeat my urge for understanding
and I pass on
adding my own meaning
only by the steps I tread

To Heal the Hurt

She

Was late

After  nine

Walking slowly

Along the seashore

With only one purpose

Looking for his sand imprints

The staunch assurance in his stride

Resolution  taut as pre-stressed steel

Hoping against hope she’d find him weeping

The above ten line story was prompted by Davy D’s excellent ETHEREE,  ‘Laptop Love’, posted on 8th November.  He has introduced me to a poetic form of which I was scarcely aware.  I do know that the etheree can take a variety of different forms, but for this, my first attempt, I have kept things simple – if that is the correct word for a rather tricky exercise. 

The photograph was taken by me earlier this month on the North Sea coast of Yorkshire.