A common man marvels at uncommon things. A wise man marvels at the commonplace. CONFUCIUS

Sunday 7 February 2010

Three Haiku

Fuenterroble
Mist all day
Middle of the Way

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Lost in the darkness
Suddenly
The moon's my lamp light

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I come and I go
Where am I?
Outside looking in

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Fuenterroble de Salvatierra is home to the priest, Don Blas, who has done so much to promote the Camino. He's a priest of five parishes. Last Thursday I stayed a night in his Casa Parroquial. I was the only pilgrim. The village of Fuenterroble lies almost middle distance between Seville and Santiago on the Vía de la Plata. The last line is also meant to suggest Buddhism's Middle Way.

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On the way to Cañaveral just over a week ago, I walked the last few kilometres after the sun had set. But I did not need my head torch. I walked on a high path, through vast, empty spaces, by the light of a full moon.

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Entering Salamanca yesterday, after the isolation of the countryside with only cattle and sheep for company, it was a shock to find streets full of well-dressed people, women in furs and scarves, girls in fashionable jeans and boots. They were walking the evening paseo, keeping to the right like traffic on the carretera. This haiku reflects the sense of alienation I felt as a ragged pilgrim just passing through.

(Posted from Salamanca, on the Vía de la Plata, Spain.)

3 comments:

Dominic Rivron said...

The third is my favourite.

Apologies - I've just realised how long it is since I dropped in.I've just realised you're walking the Camino again. (I have been dropping in on Turnstone!)

The way to Canaveral sounds amazing. I've just looked at the wiki page on Cape Canaveral in the US. That was named by Spanish explorers apparently. Canaveral = canebrake, which seems to mystify the wiki writer. Perhaps they just named it after the place you visited.

Winter Pilgrim said...

Your full moon was my full moon... just enough light to see the path to the night's refugio - mine on the Black Sea of Romania, yours in Spain. How many pilgrims were out that evening guided by the moon's reflected light?

The Solitary Walker said...

Thanks, Dominic - never thought of the connection with Cape Canaveral.

Winter Pilgrim - strangely enough, I too thought at the time about how many of us in different parts of the world were gazing up at that full moon...