Wandering

On By Mick CanningIn journeys, lockdown, poetry, walking, writing

I’m posting this poem again, as it rather illustrates what I’ve personally found particularly frustrating during the recent lockdown. We can go for longer walks now, it is true, but that’s still not the same.

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If I could just wave a wand,

I would wander the world.

With my notebook in hand,

And a bag on my back.

 

I would sleep under hedges,

In hotels and haylofts.

Drink beers under trees,

And eat cheese on the moor.

 

I’d watch clouds over hilltops,

And boats on the ocean.

Shapes and shadows at sunset,

A moon with a view.

 

And I’d write trivial poems

Of snowfall and sunlight,

Birds singing at dawn

And the sounds of a stream.

 

There’s the lure of a skyline,

And skylarks above me,

Wine and woodsmoke my welcome,

At the end of the day.

 

To travel, to journey,

There’s magic in wandering

Over moorland and downland,

Through woods and through fields.

 

The world’s full of wonders

All waiting for wanderers.

Let me follow these paths

For as long as I can.

The poem can be found in my collection The Night Bus, which is available here. should your interest have been piqued by this…

37 thoughts on “Wandering”

      1. Ishaan Sharma

        You’re welcome!
        Oh and there seems to be a bug you might want to look into.
        I clicked on the link at the end of your post, and when the amazon page opened, I clicked, the “send free sample” option, which usually delivers the first dozen or so pages of a book. I was expecting to get a gist of your writing. But the sample seems to have almost the whole book with over 190 pages!
        I deleted it instantly, since I didn’t intend to take advantage of it.
        Since most readers choose to download a sample first, you might be losing some purchases!

        Liked by 1 person

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                1. I don’t think it would be that, since the book is 190 pages-odd so that would be quite a coincidence. But I’m told that if you are signed up to Kindle Unlimited or Kindle Owners’ Lending Library it can happen. If you are, or course, just go ahead!

                  Liked by 1 person

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                    2. Ishaan Sharma

                      I checked it. Turns out the problem was in the numbering of the pages. There are less than 40 pages, including the cover et al. It displays the page number rather strangely. For example, 17 is followed by 22 etc.

                      Liked by 1 person

                    6. Ishaan Sharma

                      Probably something to do with the device or the fact that it was a sample. If no one who purchased it has pointed out anything so far, I believe it should be fine.

                      Liked by 1 person

  2. “The world is made for wonders, all waiting for wanderers” – what a beautiful sentiment. I like the idea of wandering better than hiking. With hiking you’re always on a mission – when you wander, that is the mission.

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    1. I suppose it’s about destinations, Jan. i do come across a good few hikers who have set themselves goals like ’30 miles today’, and I’m sure they miss the best of the walking experience.

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  3. Bear

    ‘Drink beers under trees’ reminds me of Spike Milligan’s ‘A sure cure for seasickness is to sit under a tree’.
    enjoyed some Skylarks climbing and tumbling on the cliff tops this week, now the restrictions are a little looser. Looking forward to some further wandering though.

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    1. Ah, dear Spike! Yes, looking forward to some myself, once I decide it’s safe taking a bus or train to get to those further destinations. But the advantage of taking a long walk in the country is you lose most of the people out for a walk who rarely go further than about a mile from home, whatever the restrictions.

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      1. Bear

        That’s true. Although I can only really walk about three or four miles before it all gets a bit sketchy (MS wobbles, nervous system gets rebellious). So,as a compromise, I can get to within half a mile of my favoured clifftop walk by parking in an off-map rough lane, from where I can access the coast path. Same thing though, more than a mile from the tourist trap towns and main car parks, so thankfully in these plague times an almost personal secret.

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        1. It was ever thus, of course. I used to work with groups occasionally on Dartmoor, and was always amused to see the number of people who took the trouble to drive up there, park in a car park, then set up their folding chairs in the car park and spend the afternoon sitting there.

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  4. What a lovely poem. I have a good bit of nature available to me, but I’m eager for the sort of travel that allows encounters with people, too. Even though I’m willing at this point, that kind of travel needs to wait until everyone is a little more comfortable.

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    1. Yes, absolutely that. I’m lucky to be able to access a good bit of countryside where I live, but yearn for something a bit further. Now wondering whether it is safe to take a bus for twenty miles to do that.

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  8. Lovely words Mick. We are confirmed wanderers rather than hikers I think. Not the head-down, big-striding, set-a-personal-best, walkers clad in barely-legal lycra. More the wandering, chatting, gazing around couple who often look lost but are just enjoying exploring.

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  10. Do you ever wonder, if you had been born a few hundred years earlier, what sort of profession you’d have? Perhaps you’d be a minstrel, wandering from place to place, swapping stories of the world for food and ale with the local farmers and pub keepers.

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