The Trail
Who gets the good?
Who gets the bad?
We do at least in here
We have it for the asking
We ask it of ourselves
We ask providence for help
This much we get
One step and then the other
And we’re on our way
Toward a path we’ve chosen
And which, if
Covertly (this is grace
until revealed, sometimes
a surprise)
Will have chosen us
The good then selecting
The bad will make a claim as well
Spirits will mediate
Depending on tradition and
Our current habits
Stay the path being generally
Good advice
Ready to move,
Even to change course
Should that become
Necessary
(tricks or illusions)
Good will let us alter ways
When needed
Bad should like to keep us in a rut
Neither trail
Path or gap
Being easy
Though we can ask for help, again
That divinity would show us
More than allegory
(though allegory, too)
We’re talking choices for
The way
And on the way
It shouldn’t be guesswork
Maybe resorting to a text
Thoughts and insights should help
The kind that only hurt
Or serve single ambition might
Indicate the other
Finally, we’ll find elsewhere
That feels like home
Even if home
We never really had
Because it is
Nothing but strangeness and
Foreboding
Should a turn be wrong,
Which will be all right
Because we can turn again
C L Couch
Photo by Alex Bertha on Unsplash
clcouch123 
May 14, 2020 at 8:55 pm
Good, bad, which way, left or right? It’s never easy having to make choices. Thank goodness for being able to turn.
May 16, 2020 at 7:50 pm
I agree, and I agree. We don’t have to stay stuck in something that’s not workable, not livable.
May 16, 2020 at 8:26 pm
We have a duty to ourselves to try to get out of it.
May 18, 2020 at 7:47 pm
I was thinking of Rober Frost’s ” the road not taken” while reading this. We all have choices to make on the path we take. The toughest part sometimes is being stuck and unable to make a choice. For me, it’s always better to make a choice and move forward in some direction then be stuck in the same place. But then again, I’ve had this conversation with my wife many times. I keep telling her a house is just a roof over my head to protect me from the elements, I don’t think of it as any more than that…she on the other hand. We were living comfortably when my daughter who had a one year old became pregnant with triplets. I had no hesitation in uprooting and living close to them so we could help.
May 19, 2020 at 1:47 am
Wow, your daughter and triplets. You are good parents. I think a house is important, certainly, but, yes, no more than a house. It serves a purpose, as your new place is serving. I was thinking of Frost’s poem, too, especially when I found an image that had woods. I was also thinking about C S Lewis’s comments about paths, I think in Mere Christianity. When the path isn’t going well, the assertion is that trying for a shortcut might not work. A return to the beginning might be required. I agree with you, though, that going is better generally than standing still (unless you want a cuppa and some contemplation). We can learn on the way.