A Traveler

(Found here)

If it’s chariots or sandals

I’ll take sandals.

I like the high prow of the chariot,

the daredevil speed, the wind

a quick tune you can’t

quite catch

              but I want to go

a long way

and I want to follow

paths where wheels deadlock.

                     And I don’t want always

to be among gear and horses,

       blood, foam, dust. I’d like

to wean myself from their strange allure.

I’ll chance

the pilgrim sandals.

~Denise Levertov