He told me that my Journey had just begun

then he sat down and took off
his whale blue socks and said
“Look, go over the hill, through the verdant valleys
beyond the Ferry Pines past the burdens you must bare.”

He said when my sojourn was over that I should look back
along the path my feet had trod and he would be there
mending his socks

                                               Today I arrived
I turned and looked back past the Ferry Pines
where my footsteps wove in and out
back over the lush green of meadows strung with flowers
up to that hill that rose from the past of my memory...
and there he was
sitting by an antique bookshelf...smiling

He shook his hairy head and laughed
then told me he was glad to see I had made it
glad I did not get lost in controversy or mired in discontents’ confusion

He told me that I looked tired and suggested I rest for a while
enjoy the memories and revel in the achievements of this
path I had chosen to so steadfastly follow, then
he paused for a moment
adding in a fatherly tone that I had appeared
to have lost some of my swagger

he promised that he would fix it
just as soon as I returned.