Things you find on the road

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.

Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura
esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte
che nel pensier rinova la paura!

Tant’ è amara che poco è più morte;
ma per trattar del ben ch’i’ vi trovai,
dirò de l’altre cose ch’i’ v’ho scorte.

Midway this way of life we’re bound upon
I woke to find myself in a a dark wood,
Where the right road was wholly lost and gone.

Ay me! how hard to speak of it—that rude
And rough and stubborn forest! the mere breath
Of memory stirs the old fear in the blood;

It is so bitter, it goes nigh to death;
Yet there I gained such good, that, to convey
The tale, I’ll write what else I found therewith.

—Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto I

---

AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

—Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road

---

The road that can be walked is not the enduring and
unchanging Road. The name that can be named is not the enduring and
unchanging Name.

Having no name, it is the Originator of heaven
and earth; having a name, it is the Mother of all
things.

—paraphrase of the opening of Lao Tsu’s Book of the Tao

---

On the road again:
Just can’t wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends,
And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

On the road again:
Goin’ places that I’ve never been.
Seein’ things that I may never see again,
And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

—Willie Nelson, On the Road Again

---

kai idou duo ex autwn en auth th hmera hsan poreuomenoi eiV kwmhn apecousan stadiouV exhkonta apo ierousalhm, h onoma emmaouV—

13. Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.
14. And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.
16. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.
17. And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”
18. Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”
19. And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
20. And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.
21. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.
22. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us.
23. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.
24. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”
25. Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
26. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”
27. And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
28. Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.
29. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.
30. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
31. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Luke 24:13-32

---

I’m not actually on the road today. At least not anymore than I was yesterday or any other day. But I’m on the road nonetheless. There’s no telling what you’ll find when you’re on your way. Dark woods. Fierce beasts. Yourself. Dear friends. Despair. Your heart’s desire. There’s an adventure around every corner if only you have the wits to recognize it.