Deep Cove Rainy Day Outing

I was cold and so hunger

I could have eaten stone soup,

as we zigged and zagged

our way along

the edge of Deep Cove Bay,

in drizzle rain

over and around clammy boulders

and soggy sand

– me, in nasty spirits –

for the weather was a rascal,

a pebble had hitched a ride in my boot,

and I felt a hissy fit a brewing . . .

Then, you took my hand and murmured:

it’s always the pebble in the shoe –

a little saying that we shared

and, with those words, I smiled

and let the misty grandeur of the place

float round me, like the spell of a story

as you set about putting my boot to rights

and said:  I don’t know about you,

but I’m starving. 

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”

 – Muhammad Ali

 

notes:  The prompt from Poetry Jam this week is “pebbles”.

Stone Soup is an old European folk tale in which hungry strangers come to a village with an empty pot which they fill with water and a large stone and place over a fire.  The villagers are curious and ask what is being cooked and the travellers reply that they are making “stone soup”, which would be wonderful if only they had a few carrots . . . seasonings . . .  potatoes, and so on.  The story is an allegory about the value of cooperation.

photos:  Deep Cove (bay and restaurant) District of North Vancouver – W. Bourke 

© 2014 Wendy Bourke