A friend on Facebook recently posted this poem featured below. When I read it, it immediately struck a cord with me.
So often I feel pulled in different directions as to how to live my life. On one hand is the adventure and draw of the unknown that is so prevalent in traveling. It sustains me. Lately the allure of comfort and stability seems to be whispering in my ear, of staying put, building a home and growing my community. I think many of us struggle with these choices, especially if you’ve lived an unconventional life in the past. Many find a way, settle into their chosen seats, and enjoy the show.
But perhaps for others, we can never find the balance. The pull toward each direction tears us apart. Nonetheless we keep fighting. We continue walking the fine line of both lives, teeter tottering to and from each side while frantically waving our outstretched arms. Searching for balance. Wishing we had a twin. 🙂
The Double Life
By Don Blanding
How very simple life would be
If only there were two of me
A Restless Me to drift and roam
A Quiet Me to stay at home.
A Searching One to find his fill
Of varied skies and newfound thrill
While sane and homely things are done
By the domestic Other One.
And that’s just where the trouble lies;
There is a Restless Me that cries
For chancy risks and changing scene,
For arctic blue and tropic green,
For deserts with their mystic spell,
For lusty fun and raising Hell,
But shackled to that Restless Me
My Other Self rebelliously
Resists the frantic urge to move.
It seeks the old familiar groove
That habits make.
It finds content
With hearth and home — dear imprisonment,
With candlelight and well-loved books
And treasured loot in dusty nooks,
With puttering and garden things
And dreaming while a cricket sings
And all the while the Restless One
Insists on more exciting fun,
It wants to go with every tide,
No matter where…just for the ride.
Like yowling cats the two selves brawl
Until I have no peace at all.
One eye turns to the forward track,
The other eye looks sadly back.
I’m getting wall-eyed from the strain,
(It’s tough to have an idle brain)
But One says “Stay”
and One says “Go”
And One says “Yes,”
and One says “No,”
One wants a home and settled life
And One Self craves the drifter’s life.
The Restless Fellow always wins
I wish my folks had made me twins.
Photo taken by Tracy Barbutes.
Adventure On,Â
Joslin