Pilgrimage
When you stare towards the sun, the world becomes fragments of light and shadow. The elusive horizon disappears into the presence of your shading hand. You are here now, the place that you stand, with your aches and pains forgotten, and the company of birdsong, cloud shadow, breath. Stand here, remember the moments like dominos […]
Post Covid 2021 — The State of our Friendship
I know nothing about the human brain except that I have one and that since you’re reading this, you have one too. I also know we have a heart, which is aching. The heart doesn’t understand what our brains are doing. This stream of information coming in is so weighty; burning rainforests, global pandemics, crazy […]
How Not To Walk The Camino
‘’…In India, they say only Atman can meet God on the road…’’ So you want to walk the Camino de Santiago? Are your reasons for sport, for health, or for your spirit? If it’s for the first two reasons, scroll to Practicalities below — you’ll find a list of advice to aid you. But if it is […]
The Gold Light of Pamplona
June 2023 – 2nd Camino de Santiago Rain glistens on the cobblestones of Pamplona. Rubbish, haphazardly strewn covers the ground, fast-food wrappers, beer cans, plastic cups, cigarette butts and black bags bust open by rats and birds. If you listen carefully, you can hear the sounds of the previous night’s festivities echoing from the walls, […]
Angels in the shade of farewell
Goodbyes come in all sizes, and rarely suit all. The sky is pastel blue with a warm orange glow where the sun sets, the light a soft brush stoke behind the deeper shade of the mountains. The air in New Zealand is still like a picture. Still, like a landscape pause on Attenborough. Still, as […]
I Have Lived
I have lived a thousand thousand nights.I have dreamed of cities eternal and ethereal.I have crossed the patterned sand blownscattered wastes of desert moonscapes. I have scaled the boney bark of mile high towering trees.I have swam in oceans, dived through flooded windows of city towers emptyparks and lonely spires.I have walked cobbled streets, with […]
The Twisting Tree
Crucified on the hard wooden floor of my mind I lay awake and aware of my body as though for the first time. The distant ceiling spirals deeply away into a bottomless rooftop tower. 1,981 raindrops drum the ground around and at each point of the circular pagoda. Overhanging tubes of bamboo, like the teeth […]
Where We Are
Imagine yourself descending a steep stairway that has been hacked out of the raw, red-rock face of a cliff in Kerala, India. The sea roars its welcome below you; tall palms wave too, their leafy shadows flirt shamelessly between you and the sun, casting weaving pattern-webs that at once cool and entrance. The sun, possessive […]
Drowning in Paradise
White sand, soft as ashes… Littered by broken fragments of bone like coral, pushed ashore by clear crystal waters which rush in and slosh softly away again. Your feet greet the wet as it rolls in and out, warm washing, hushing and shushing thoughts away. Beyond the rolling rhythm maker, where the water meets the […]
