Beyond the Bend in the Road

Here’s another short poem by Fernando Pessoa. I love the eloquent way he sinks home the idea of living in the now, appreciating the gift that is right before our eyes. I enjoy the simplicity of these lines, along with the depths conveyed. I am reminded again of the notion that until we become as little children we shall not see the kingdom of God.

Beyond the Bend in the Road

Beyond the bend in the road
There may be a well, and there may be a castle,
And there may be just more road.
I don’t know and don’t ask.
As long as I’m on the road that’s before the bend
I look only at the road before the bend,
Because the road before the bend is all I can see.
It would do me no good to look anywhere else
Or at what I can’t see.
Let’s pay attention only to where we are.
There’s only enough beauty in being here and not somewhere else.
If there are people beyond the bend in the road,
Let them worry about what’s beyond the bend in the road.
That, for them, is the road.
If we’re to arrive there, when we arrive there we’ll know.
For now we know only that we’re not there.
Here there’s just the road before the bend, and before the bend
There’s the road without any bend.

1914
Fernando Pessoa
A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe