FINISTERRE

We invite you to watch this talk by David Whyte, given at TED, talks about the themes from two poems. It’s a lovely exploration of the journey we’re on and the transitions we go through.

The road in the end taking the path the sun had taken,

into the western sea, and the moon rising behind you

as you stood where ground turned to ocean: no way

to your future now but the way your shadow could take,

walking before you across water, going where shadows go,

no way to make sense of a world that wouldn’t let you pass

except to call an end to the way you had come,

to take out each frayed letter you had brought

and light their illumined corners; and to read

them as they drifted on the western light;

to empty your bags; to sort this and to leave that;

to promise what you needed to promise all along,

and to abandon the shoes that had brought you here

right at the water’s edge, not because you had given up

but because now, you would find a different way to tread,

and because, through it all, part of you would still walk on,

no matter how, over the waves.

–

By David Whyte

Contemplation Questions

After reading the poem and letting it sink in, we invite you to take a few minutes to journal your answers to the following questions.

1. What are the “shoes that brought you here”? What are the beliefs, attributes, skills, goals that helped you arrive at this moment in your life?
2. What do you need to let go or leave behind, in order to “walk on, no matter how, over the waves”?