“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it is still, perhaps, the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fellowship of the Ring
In America, in New York, on Long Island it is November no longer, but since November barely a day has passed that I have not awakened before sunrise on the verge of tears wondering just how long this darkness will last; how long before the arrival of light.
And then I remember that after the passage of winter and the presence of spring, soon it will be summer, the softest of seasons when even the wildness of the world might be forgotten when this darkness is exchanged for light, if only for a little while.
And when June arrives it might be easy to stay here in this place, but to stay for summer would create the opposite in my heart and to remain on this island is to remain as an island itself: isolated, remote, and closed off from the rest of the world that it is has no other choice than to be a part of, a world it cannot remain separated from; a world ravaged by war, disrupted by disease, and plagued by politics over which we often have no control, but a world where also is found beauty and hope and passion and perseverance. Away from this island I know I will encounter both and both will be embraced. Many miles away from this island my pilgrimage will begin.
It is difficult to explain the meaning of this journey, for a pilgrimage is a most sacred and intimate endeavor. One day, words will come, found in all of the places in which they have been waiting: among the dust and ruins of ancient civilizations, in sunrises over seas and sunsets over deserts, in languages I do not yet speak, and in silence, always in silence. Until that day I will follow the lines of the earth and the reflection of rivers in the stars above. I will follow in the footsteps of wayfarers and wanderers, troubadours and Templars, rovers and roamers, on a pilgrimage through all of the places that pilgrims have passed. And when words do arrive I will invite them to stay just long enough to be written down and here they will be shared.
Until then…Ultreya.