~ ♥️ 𝒫𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓃𝒾𝓍 ♥️ ~ 𝓅𝑜𝑒𝓂𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓉 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈

The Old Shoemaker

A/N: I thought it'd be fun if I shared the inspiration behind this poem. A couple of years ago my family and I traveled to Greece. Directly across from our hotel was a tiny shoe shop where a very old man was making shoes by hand. 

I watched as he measured my feet and carefully constructed a pair of white sandals out of leather and wood. We stayed for a few hours while he told us all about his life and the things he'd seen, stories of his childhood in Greece, and about his beautiful wife Coletta, who had recently passed away after fifty years of marriage. 

He was an incredible individual and I am so grateful I had the privilege of speaking to him. I do not know where he is now, or if he is still alive, but I do hope I will never forget the conversation we had that day. 

The Old Shoemaker

He was the old shoemaker, wise and free

Proud as a peacock, and sanguine with glee

As young, we inquired with this character in question

Of how he found joy in a such bland profession

But he simply smiled, and with an accent thick in Greek

Explained to us youngsters the answers we wished to seek

He told us with words of his predecessor's musings

Of Socrates and Plato, and other names quite confusing

A tale of light, knowledge, and fresh memories that still glisten

Anyone worth their salt would plead the stars just to listen

"It is known throughout the lands, from the young priests to old wives,

That a shoemaker lives a thousand and one lives."

We scratched our heads and furrowed our brows in confusion

Trying to make sense of such a droll delusion

"When the shoemaker walks, he walks with the stars

With a thousand and one stories, a thousand and one scars."

At this, he picked up his sandaled old feet

Glided through the door, and off past the busy street

Bewildered though curious, we scurried to follow

As he led us to a forest, and by a tree carved hollow

We breathed in quick puffs, despite our young age

But the shoemaker seemed refreshed, a hawk out of cage

"See now, little saplings, for I am one of you

With a heart of olive branch, with friendships run true

Life is not yet a quite complicated thing

Days in the fields, chewing wheat, we sing

Growing like tree branches, and satisfied in the light

Running far as the rivers, knowing little wrong or right

With a soul of moonshine, with a mind of clay

Contentment is found within a day."

Now he stepped along the path, to the riverside

And as we followed our gaits steadied, to a long, proud stride

"Now observe, as I tread onwards with might

Fervent as steel, with an unforgiving bite

To commandeer the lands, on the scintillating sea

To establish the world, it depends all on me

See now and watch the torch as it passes

Into my expectant hands, the amber dances

The torch is a crown, placed upon my head

Baking my mind, turning clay hard as lead

Heart of olive branch catches ablaze

Replaced with hunger, a furious haze

Eyes that were once blinded by sunlight

Now blink with sharp and clever foresight."

We looked, our jaws agape at the view ahead

At the looming mountains and trees in grassy beds

At the light that danced on mountains of stone

On peaks snow-capped and white as bone

A sight that was once clouded by mist

Now sits proud as stars in their black abyss

The path seemed longer before, how bizarre

Endless when we'd begun, but now here we are

"Alas we have arrived, expectant and intrigued

It seems like all is as it's meant to be

But be fooled not, the journey has just begun

Observe that around you, learn from everyone

This is a journey, bittersweet as the parting path

The birds chirp, they are my friends inviting me to laugh

The trees welcome me with branches spread wide

My family, watching me with proud, regarding eyes

The cool wind pushes me gently along

My partner in life, compassionate and strong

The mountains loom in majesty, tall before me

My ancestors, who long before made this journey,

I will join them one day, in their world of glory and stone."

As I looked around I saw, that I now stood alone

That all the children I started with, took paths of their own

Though the shoemaker was gone, I could still feel him talk

As I put on my shoes and began to walk