Do not seek to possess goods or lands,
or fill your pockets with all the earth’s treasures,
for when you reach the end, none will matter,
not the house with its rooms or the cars
with their polished steel gleaming like the sun.
It is enough to have the memory of a good meal,
the taste of the soup still warm on your tongue,
the chairs you sat in with friends who laughed
like the birds that gather at the feeder
without ever claiming ownership of the sky.
Do not seek fiefs or fortunes to defend,
but let your days be shaped by simple things,
a letter in the mailbox, a song on the radio,
the warmth of a blanket when the storm comes,
or the quiet pulse of a heart content with less.
For in the end, what we hold is not ours to keep,
and the only possession that matters is the feeling
of having lived well, of having walked slowly
through the world with nothing but your hands
outstretched toward the next moment, free.
YOU ARE READING
21 Poems Of Reflection
PoesíaA compilation of reflective poems I wrote upon reading Miyamoto Musashi's book Dokkōdō (The Way of Walking Alone). The 21 principles in his book inspired me to write the poems you're about read here.
