Three Rules for Travel and Love

It is simple really.
Go. Be kind. Stay a while.

Go. Make the leap.
Take the chance. The risk.
Whatever you do, don’t stay where you are. “
Whatever experience you once lived
there’s another one, better, somewhere else.
Go.

Be kind. Listen.
There are damaged streets everywhere.
But you would be surprised
what you can find out simply listening,
the golden kernels, the hidden gardens,
unexpected museums, secret courtyards.
Often the process wears rags, but listen
and her speech tells the tale. It takes time
for walls to fall. But listen, and sooner or later
everyone talks.
Listening itself is an act of kindness.
Listen

Stay a while.
Perhaps the one perfect destination
does not show itself the first day or few.
Listen to the pulse of the day,
all the days, beautiful and rainy.
Listen to the past, the hopes,
the sound of the streets.
Wait for the magic, It will come
or it won’t. But move too fast
to the next place, the next face
and you could miss the most glorious
soul places, the places you were meant to be.
Stay a while.

About this poem.

I am a slow traveler. In life and in love. So far, I believe it has paid off.

Tom