my boots are covered

in the ashes of bridges burned

and the dust of roads less traveled.

wisdom calls to me

from sacred pages

with the reminder to

dust off worn out thoughts

and tired feet that have traveled

too far on scorched earth.

and having shaken the ashes from

some misguided sentiment or

strange dwellings, once imagined homes

to begin again

with boots set forward

toward the new journey

down that familliar path called

fondly …”the unknown.”

(for Ash Wednesday, based on the scripture Matthew 10: 14)

(c) 2020, cmk.