Four Voices Of The Road

The road was gentle and spoke to me in four voices, so that i might truly understand. First, most simply, was the ground i walked over. Packed earth or broken stone, grass or evenly laid cobbles; all carried an unhurried message.

Second, the wayside told me tales of past and future. Greenery, ruins of man-made structures, animals, skeletal outlines of buildings being raised; these spoke less clearly, in disconnected tales, but in greater detail and variety.

Third, travelers along the road, be they beast or man or neither, brought words in all languages, spoken and not. These were more complex, still, and needed to be studied to discover truth and fact from lies and rumors.

Finally, fourth, spoke the destination, always distant, as yet unknown - perhaps unknowable. It spoke beneath and above and throughout the other voices of the road: refining and defining them and telling me all the knowledge i might ever need, if i had the wit to hear it and the patience to travel this road, unraveling its story; making it my own.