WALKING INTO THE LIVING ROOM,
AFTER CHANGING
FROM
SUNDAY’S CLOTHES, I SAY TO KAREN,
(WALK BUT NEVER LEAVE HOME),
REGARDING
MY PILGRIMAGE TO COMPOSTELA: KAREN,
Yes?
she says.
I’m
on my last 48 miles.
She
looks at me again. Lots of signs to walk around,
I
say. I’ve been walking the Development Route since January.
452
miles. Lots of Stop signs to walk walk around.
Walk
the short block during television commercials. Nine minutes.
Four-tenths
of a mile. Walk to the Stop sign
when
cookies are in the oven. She says to me,
My
friend is on a cruise. She got to swim with dolphins.
That
will shorten the lives of dolphins I say.
Nothing
personal about your friend on Facebook.
Camino
de Santiago. How did I get here.
One
day returning from the morning mile walk,
low
sun enables one to see tiny blades of grass
breaking
through soil. Work one tiny thing at a time.
Front
porch room. Sweep dead leaves in Cairn Park,
dig
up seedling Rose of Sharon trees for Xander
and
an Autumn Pine for neighbor down the street,
Earth
Day will be here next week. And
The
Japanese Garden by Sophie Walker
from
Inter-library Loan with a surprising
4-week
lending period. Time for absorption.
Who
would have guessed this walk.
A
housing development in Yakima.
Northern
Spain. Sahugún was the
half-way point
weeks
ago, seems like. No middle middle
as
they say in baseball.
Santo
Santiago—Saint James. A fisherman.
When
Jesus came to the Sea of Galilee,
he
was fishing with his father and John.
They
weren’t having any luck when Jesus said
dip
those nets in the water again.
Santiago
witnessed the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Did
you know that?
Saint
James now. He spread the Gospel
He
crises-crossed Israel and the Roman Empire.
Spread
the word for forty years in Spain.
A
monument on the Camino de Santiago
near
the Spanish city of Sahagún
marks
the geographical halfway point.
Café
Bar El Trasgu, one of the best stops
for
the caminantes on the Camino.
Located
in the center of downtown Sahugún,
better
than the Bar Luna down the street.
At
this point, the pilgrims have walked 250 miles.
Los
peregrinos. Caminantes.
Son
cansados. They’re tired. Some are cranky.
Pinche
this, pinche that.
Peregrinos
mi culo. Son de la cocina.
Some
have given up and flown home.
After
the discovery of the relics.
St.
James opening the 9th century
Plenary
indulgence could be earned,
complete
in every respect.
Caminantes
somos
y
en el camino andamos.
Caballero
Andante just south of us.
Legend
holds that St James’s remains
were
carried by boat to Jerusalem to northern Spain
where
he was buried, now
the
city of Santiago de Compostela.
Saint
James and all that preaching in Spain.
Returned
to Judaea after seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary
on
the bank of the Ebro River.
El
Camino de Santiago—also called
The
Milky Way
formed
from dust raised
by
traveling pilgrims.
And
now these last 48 miles.
Yakima
and the short block. Four tenths
of
a mile. I said that. The stop signs.
Los
ultimos kilometros. Mas en kilomitros.
Another
week. Seven days. What country am I in?
I’ll
be sitting in the pew during Pilgrim’s Mass.
La
Catedral de Campostela
I
can’t wait to lay my hands on that pillar
inside
the doorway to the cathedral.
But
today, still a couple of miles,
a
few things. Prepare the garden for May Day.
Wheel
that tree to the neighbor.
I
suppose I’ll walk a mile at Costco
en
el trafico terrible—a dentro Costco no?
Las
mujeres manejando sus caritos de la compra.
Shopping
carts and John the Baptist.
The
Baptist calling for repentance
and
all this walking aisles inside Costco.
There’s
been a cost to this walk.
And
on this walk—I’ll be in Composite
in
a week—no one arrives. I’ve learned that
walking.
Others know, too. If we understood
that
from the beginning, well, you know
where
this is going. But it’s beautiful.
It’s
nothing if it’s not beautiful. I’ve got some things
to
put away before I quit for the day.
The
rake and pruners. Shovel and gloves.
Those
two pails I used digging up the trees.
Jim
Bodeen
February,
March,-24 April 2024
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