A Pilgrim is Grateful
A Pilgrim is Grateful
by Shoshana D. Kerewsky | Bellingham, WA
I remind myself that a pilgrim is grateful. I am grateful, I tell myself. But I am not grateful. My refrain is the tourist’s demand, my muscles tense, my gait irregular, footsteps out of cadence. I want, I want, I want, my dull refrain. I am a pilgrim, and a pilgrim is grateful. A peregrina walks the Way. The jolt of sole on pavement, grateful, grateful, I tell myself grateful, I breathe in a reluctant grateful, I sing grateful, grateful. I bare my stubborn heart to the ferocious sun, the endless earth, vertigo Meseta sky. I am grateful for this rain, grateful for these shoes. I am grateful for the cloud-hidden stars. I am grateful just to walk. A bed, a fire, a cup of lemon tea, a conversation followed by hours of silence. I am a pilgrim, and a pilgrim is grateful.
Each exige to
agradece, there and here.
Every no is yes.
Editor’s note: Find reviews of Shoshana D. Kerewsky’s books in past La Concha issues:
- Spring 2024: 50 Days in May: Reflections Along the Camino de Santiago (Lockweed Press, 2024)
- Autumn 2022 (page 37): Cancer, Kitsugi, Camino (Lockweed Press, 2022).
