TraceysTrek

The wind took my cry
and scattered it on sea cliffs
where gulls wheeled alone.

Five thousand miles of shoreline—
yet I still walk beside you.

Rain filled my footprints,
then washed them back to the tide.
Your hand is gone now,

but in each knitted heart ❤️ shared
your warmth travels on ahead.

Estuaries bend;
the far bank always in sight,
never close at hand.

So grief circles every loss,
teaching the feet patience.

In Priscilla,
beneath the drum of night rain,
I speak your name softly.

The sea does not answer me,
yet somehow I am heard.

Northward, southward still,
through storms that lift me from earth,
through fields and harbors,

I carry what cannot stay:
love, memory, and your voice.

At journey’s end,
when Glasgow rises ahead,
I will not arrive alone.

For all along Britain’s edge,
you have walked every step with me.

I cannot take credit for this poem. I asked ChatGPT to write a poem inspired by the spirit of a tanka (a traditional Japanese five-line poem), but it expanded it slightly to honor the scale of my trek.