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Yes

I once walked there

on the path well-trod

but my footprints I never could find

for they were all mixed and mingled therein

with the others

I walked behind

I’ve spend much of my life on a path, lost in the dust and footsteps of other path followers. This is ironic in that when I was young my favorite activity was to explore the open forest and fields surrounding my boyhood home. I would seldom see anyone during my journey’s and very little of my explorations included anything you could call a path. Perhaps a few deer or animal trails.

My trail wasn’t straight

nor was it wide

it wandered where ever I pleased

but the beauty I saw

could never be seen

from that well-trod path through the trees


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In the last year I’ve been given the opportunity to step off the path and while it may seem to many I not wandered far, for me it’s been a time of self-exploration. It’s also been a time to clear my head. It’s amazing how behavior codes can become convictions and then seemingly truths after 30 years of daily self indoctrination. I’m still working on the head part.

The good news is that I’m again feeling that boy in me who was comfortable being off the path.

But the tear that I shed

wasn’t really for me

‘twas for the many who fear to be free

from the well-trod path

that shackles their souls

and shrouds their destiny


I’m thinking 2008 may be a good year.

Poem: My Path In The Woods, Marty RicKard

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