Hello, Stan,
Your poetry always lets me walk quietly beside you - taking in the scenery or your expressions - always wondering what you're thinking as you walk along, studying the surroundings. It's very panoramic. I can see every direction - the path ahead, your footsteps behind, the depth of the evening sky. It's always so crisp and vivid. But more importantly, it's always so inviting.
Thank you!
L

that your poems deliver many of us to
a land not often visited by many.
People are just too busy to get out there in the woods.
As always, I walk alongside of you to these special glens
and visit with the squirrels and see the life of the forest.

I think that you could use a little tweaking of the last stanza.

"Silently I contemplate
review my journey up to [now]
Which direction brings which fate
I must decide and decide [now]"

You could get rid of the last two lines altogether
and it wouldn't hurt this piece at all.
~ Geez.
.

that we've heard the last of Old Man Winter! After tonight, we are supposed to have melting temperatures and rain, so away goes the two feet of snow we just got in the last couple of days. About time! Of course, he could always roar back with an Easter storm, like a time or two I remember, back in the sixties; but I really think it's over now. How are you down there in Dixie? ~ Geez.
.

I love your walks off the beaten path! I live not far from a state park on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border. we used to walk around in the park and sometimes picnic, always taking our garbage back with us. you would be surprised at how many do not clean up after themselves. I can no longer make the treck because of my knees.
i wish for gentle journeys for you noble wordsmith, please be well. my favorite lines are:

And with every step I take
I leave my past further behind,
every triumph every mistake
grows dimmer in my troubled mind.

*hugs & love, Cat

It always feels like I’m there. I spend a lot of time in the forest when I need to think and I’m sure that’s one reason why these are so cool to read. You have a natural ability to convey images with emotions through your writing and it’s always a little mysterious and uplifting.

Tim

As I read this (I did so twice) many things came to my vision and most of all this poetic write made me think of a beautiful Thomas Kincade portrait. It told a story just, like he did with his paintings. I really like the road you walked and the river so wide you could see the lantern on the other side. And I loved this poignant part...

"Straining to hear some silent words
or see some glimmer in the dark"

Reminds me of times now that I strain to hear and look for the glimmer in the dark, especially when the moon is full and shining on my pool water...

I sit on my porch alone a lot now, as Mom and Dad are gone and I think about all the coffee and talks and all the fun we had sitting on the same porch that I still sit on..just only alone now. It is too quiet now and I am left with such beautiful, yet sometimes sad too, memories of those days gone by and my heart aches.

I love how your poem took me on a journey and quite honestly it brought me to tears. I do not know why but it hit something I am also missing in my life at this time.

But we must take the next step is exactly right...

Good job Stan!

Blessings

It's all been said before me. I see our walks are joined by shadows in the mists. I see a poem growing from your poem and the comments.

This is up there with one of your best. I have always wondered is our fate fixed or can it be altered. Could I have averted the pain in my life or was it meant to be. I'll never know. But it's been pondered on since time began.

Magnificent poem bravo!

Much love Sis xxx