Kashmir | The Road Less Traveled

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Sonamarg Kashmir | The Road Less Traveled

Why? 

“‘Why do you do it?’ friends often ask, perplexed,

Brows raised, minds sorely vexed.

‘The world out there is dangerous!

Aren’t you scared? Why do this?

You need steady work, a house, two cars!

You have only a motorbike, and sleep under stars!’

Dear friend, if you must ask, you cannot know

This curiosity that drives me so.

To you it is hidden; in me rises unbidden!

But one day the world I’ll have ridden

By iron steed, then perhaps this need

Will have vanished, finally vanquished!

That day will find me on deathbed,

With no regrets for the life I led.

Will you be able to say the same?

Or will you despair a life worn plain?

I will stake my Himalayan memories

Against your estate of a thousand trees.

Pit my Thai sunset

Against your private jet.

Weigh my horse rides at sunrise

To your Italian suits and ties.

I’ll rejoice in friends before I go,

Not the figures of my stock portfolio.

And, amazingly, there are more like me;

They reject slavery, and are truly free.

They took the chance we all had,

And honestly it makes me sad

That you didn’t.

You thought you couldn’t…

What?

Live without the luxuries

Of all our modern amenities?

You choose the bonds of mortgage, but claim to be free,

Wasting a lifetime absorbed by TV.

Why watch it? but live it!

One life’s all you get!

Don’t put off ’til morrow and continue to borrow

The lives of strangers; ’tis the greatest of dangers

To the soul

Which grows old

Before its time.

Hercules, Columbus,

Guevara, Odysseus,

Champlain, Agamemnon,

The list goes on…

What have they in common?

Regardless man or god,

The soil of continents they trod,

Not in search of gold but adventure!

Not growing old ’cause they ventured

Far from safety; but far be it from me

To Judge…

The pitiless pity us

With souls black pitted.

Pray! save it for those less spirited.

For us… our horizons are unlimited.”

– James Richmond –