Loneliness / Roads - Echoes of Thoreau II

[VERSE 1] Loneliness is often a guest misnamed At the sound of it men close their doors draw their curtains fill their rooms with noise Yet loneliness is not always emptiness Sometimes it is the truth hidden by the crowd I have seen full tables bright houses busy rooms And winter living inside them all [VERSE 2] I have seen one man with a single chair one window one cup of tea Live an entire evening without lack For absence is not always having no one near Often it is not having oneself [CHORUS] When the crowd grows loud some hearts grow far When the road grows still some hearts return Walk alone awhile hear what remains Some roads tire the feet Some roads carry the soul [VERSE 3] As town grew crowded I saw not people drawing near But drifting from themselves Streets were full of shoulder against shoulder Yet faces passed without touching Everyone was speaking Few were hearing Everyone was looking Few were seeing A man may lose himself in sound And only find himself in silence [VERSE 4] Here beside the lake I shared the noon with the shadow of a pine I listened to wind moving through leaves I heard far off the one-line song of a bird And I felt no lack For lack is often not the absence of company But the absence of one’s own presence [VERSE 5] If a man cannot befriend himself A hundred guests will not warm his house If there is no peace within Even by a fire he shivers He who runs from himself Finds himself following Some journeys carry only luggage And never carry the man [CHORUS] When the crowd grows loud some hearts grow far When the road grows still some hearts return Walk alone awhile hear what remains Some roads tire the feet Some roads carry the soul [VERSE 6] Loneliness did not explain me It silenced me And when it grew quiet Things long denied a voice began to speak Many thoughts are lost not because of noise alone But because they were never given time A man thinks he seeks answers Yet with enough silence He finds a different question [VERSE 7] One morning I went walking The road was cool with dew The earth accepted my weight without complaint Unlike men A road does not call you It does not advertise boast or insist It only stretches onward Walk it and it teaches Stand still and it waits Turn back and it does not resent [VERSE 8] That day I knew more clearly Roads are often more honest than men For men call you into their hurry But the road calls you only to yourself People invite each other into haste Mistaking speed for virtue Many arrive early At the wrong place [BRIDGE] The length of a road is not what matters But where it leads a man Some roads reach a city Some reach a title Some reach a habit But rare roads return a man to himself They are often narrow paths Without signs Unloved by crowds [VERSE 9] Walking, I learned Feet do not only move the body They loosen the mind Thoughts hardened in a chair grow soft in motion A knot upon the table opens on a trail Sometimes the answer lives not in a book But in rhythm Left foot right foot breath sky [VERSE 10] In town men meet each other On the road a man meets himself That is why many fear walking alone For what waits outside is not trees But their own inner voice And it has waited a long time [VERSE 11] By afternoon the road bent And the lake disappeared I walked awhile without seeing water Then I knew Truth is like that It does not vanish when out of sight Friendship peace direction meaning Still exist when unseen [VERSE 12] I sat upon a stone Far off the bells of town were ringing Men had their clocks The road had no time It never hurries And so it is never late The more a man rushes The less he arrives to his own day [FINAL VERSE] Returning at dusk the shadows had grown long Trees were quieter than in morning The wind more seasoned And I was not the man who left at dawn For some walks do not cross distance They change a man If one day you lose yourself in the crowd Do not be ashamed Many are lost there Be alone awhile Take a path that no one calls you to First you hear the sound of loneliness Then a little later Your own voice Choose not the road most traveled Choose the road that makes your spirit lighter For some roads weary the feet And some carry the soul [OUTRO] Walk alone awhile Hear what remains