NO ONE SPOKE

There was a tradition that when you have completed the Camino de Santiago you then walked to the beach at Finisterre and burned the clothes you worn during the pilgrimage. I say tradition because you cannot do this now as it causes too much pollution. Pilgrims still walk to Finisterre though.

AFTER THE PILGRIMAGE

Cape Finesterre

finally the fire caught

aided in no small part

by the razor wind

that cut across the beach

we watched the clothes we had worn

all those long miles to Santiago burn

then looked beyond the sea

to where our former lives waited

no one spoke

This poem derives from me meeting two people at Santiago as they completed the Pilgrimage. We caught the bus to the coast a couple of days later. Again it is a poem I feature in readings.

This is the title tune from one of my favourite Anna Ternheim albums.

Until next time.