photo by Arpan
I wish to follow up my last post called ‘Poetry In Motion’ with a poem I wrote in 2002, inspired by the 3100 mile race as I was helping the runners everyday. Sri Chinmoy seemed to like the poem as I read it out at a function on the occasion of my 50th birthday that year.
The next year, in 2003, Sri Chinmoy kindly told me that he felt I could actually run and finish the 3100 mile race. Finally overcoming fear and doubt about my own ability to do so, I trusted in his faith in me and finally ran and finished the 3100 mile race in 2004. It certainly was not easy achievement. The remarkable experience left me with a much deeper appreciation for the incredible nature of the race and of the runners’ efforts to complete it. My poem truly came to life for me as I completed the most difficult race one could ever attempt and at the same time having some incredibly meaningful spiritual moments as well.
This poem, although written before I even ran the race, intends to convey the sense of elevated and inspired Reality that pervades the race course, not only for the runners but for all that are present to help or just watch.The 3100 mile race is a world in itself, and it is a piece of this luminous and powerful world I wanted to express through this poem called:
‘Journey to the Unknown.’
A 3,100 mile orbit of concrete, automobiles and local humanity,
Lightly spiced with a hint of nature
And fed by the Grace of God,
Supported with the efforts of friends
Who sympathize with the pain,
The Joys
And the challenges
Facing at every moment
These handful of Hero-Warriors.
Running, walking, struggling
To the beat of their own
Undying aspirations
In this perpetually moving
Epic adventure,
These Ultimate Survivors
Of obstacles unimaginable
Are proving to humanity
With their unparalleled perseverance,
Adamantine wills
And unswerving Faith,
That the impossible can be done,
And the Universal Energy
Can be unleashed,
To raise our standards
And lift our minds
Beyond the limits
Of our broken bodies
And faithless thoughts,
To reveal the Beauty and the Power
Of life’s long and arduous
Journey to the Unknown.
Arpan DeAngelo