Looking over my shoulder at the trail long behind...

5 posts
User avatar
Gender Female
Points 7832
Reviews 29
Image


The path of the past is a perilous journey
turns forgotten, trails unbeaten
ink smudged that marks the way.

Wildflowers grow where tears were shed
knees and forehead placed to the earth.
Footprints hold the water for puddles,
before they are evened into land.

Deep in the forest at the end of the trail,
lies that which has seen the most regrowth.
Deep in the forest at the end of the trail,
sits that which has caused the most pain.
The place where it all began.

It is time to visit it again.


Poems

  1. The Old Train Station Platform 4-1-25
  2. A Rain Soaked Map (I Remember the Way) 4-27-25
Last edited by Ranger on Wed Apr 02, 2025 6:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Not all who wander are lost; some are just looking for their arrows.




User avatar
Gender Female
Points 7832
Reviews 29
While the above is a list of poems for accounting, here is a ranking that will be similarly updated! More lighthearted ones are at the top meanwhile slightly darker ones are near the bottom. While they don't have anything triggering unless explicitly said so, they certainly have different vibes then the lighter ones!

woodland edge
- The Old Train Station Platform 4-1-25
- A Rain Soaked Map (I Remember the Way) 4-27-25
-
heart of the forest
Last edited by Ranger on Wed Apr 02, 2025 6:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Not all who wander are lost; some are just looking for their arrows.




User avatar
Gender Female
Points 7832
Reviews 29
The Old Train Station Platform

I remember finding the old train station platform,
it was such a bright and sunny day,
it was in a clearing in the woods,
silo and foundations but no train.

I remember finding the old train station platform,
a square border of concrete in the grass,
the silo was across from it at the edge of the clearing,
and on either side was a path.

The paths led deeper into the woods,
one from which I came.
There had been train tracks at one time on that path I walked,
and on it cars that carried grain.

But now there was only a treeless road,
one that I would walk again and again.
Where it had come from no one would say,
and where it had gone was a mystery for another day.

Although I remember standing there,
imagining the whistle of the train ring through the air,
the business of the platform as the train came in,
all hands to work to get it filled as a couple of passengers paid their bill.

Then the memory faded from sight,
that had been a memory that certainly wasn't mine.
I remember asking when and why,
such a place had faded from time,
but no one knew, no one could say.

I looked at the path into the woods,
and where it went I still no not know,
or why the station and tracks had gone away,
but I remember finding the old train station platform that day.
Not all who wander are lost; some are just looking for their arrows.




User avatar
Gender Female
Points 61171
Reviews 622
Spoiler
Hey Ranger!

I love the mystery set up by the last stanza of your intro poem.

knees and forehead placed to the earth.

^ I also really like this image. It makes me imagine the texture and feel of the soil.

The Old Train Station Platform
> The mystery continues with this poem! I like how you slowly unveiled different parts of the picture, from the platform to the silo, and then what used to go on in that place.
>Lines I liked in particular:
silo and foundations but no train.

This very succinctly makes the place seem abandoned.
But now there was only a treeless road,

I like how this shows the stark change in the place. The lack of trees makes it seem lifeless and a bit eerie.
but I remember finding the old train station platform that day.

I like how you ended with an echo of the beginning.

Happy NaPo and keep writing!
she/her




User avatar
Gender Female
Points 7832
Reviews 29
A Rain Soaked Map (I Remember the Way)

A folded map laid at the end of my bed,
wrinkled and worn from wear.
Its paper was yellowed, the lines now smudged,
from the travel it had endured.

I took the page and smoothed the wrinkles,
as I spread it out on my desk,
and carefully read the lines
as they were marked out in pen.

Marks upon the paper,
had ended up smudging the ink
but whether those marks were rain or teardrops,
I wasn't sure what to think.

So I took up the map in my two hands,
and set upon the path,
to tred the way of memories
where I now recollected only half.

I followed the uncertain lines,
but where they wavered I did not.
Such a path made with such pain
was a path carved into my memory.

I walked along the washed out trail,
in a sort of daze to only I know where,
listening to the sounds,
the whispers of the past.

Then suddenly it started to rain,
each drop soothing each little pain
that the memories had brought back
as I tred the way.

But alas,
in my hands it soaked my map,
it smudged the ink and wrinkled the page,
so I folded it up to keep it safe.

I tucked it in my pocket,
the wet and folded map,
to keep it from the elements,
in some sort of hope that it would later help.

I was alone now though,
without any guidance but my mind,
with rain soaked map,
But I remember the way.
Not all who wander are lost; some are just looking for their arrows.



it is quite something to wound someone and then pity their scars
— canopy