The Unlikely Wanderer

I am no thunder’s favored son, 

Nor one who chases the blazing sun; 

I am no dragon-slayer  sung in halls—
I'd likely trip if duty calls.
I wear no crown  from heaven sent;
My gold is earned, and mostly spent.

I’ve never sunk to the salted deep,
Where krakens wake and secrets sleep;
Yet I have waded waters strange and cold,
In nameless streams and mossy mold.
Where others feared a dampened toe,
I've gone where only whispers go.

I’ve trekked where thorn and shadow meet,
With dust and blisters on my feet;
Not reckless-wild, nor tamely tied,
But squinting  at the "Other Side."
For though my waist is rather round,
I’ve covered miles of rugged ground.

For I have not lived at the edge of doom,
Nor danced where only mad hearts bloom;
Yet neither have I settled still
Behind a dusty window-sill.
I’ve bypassed tea and skipped my bread,
To see where wilder pathways led.

Not legend vast, nor timid tale,
But one who chose at times to sail
On smaller winds, on humbler quests,
With quiet storms within my chest.
Over jagged rocks and valley green,
My eyes have glimpsed the rarely seen.

And if you judge by face or frame,
You’d never guess the hidden flame;
For some adventures do not shout—
They grow like roots and wander out.
I have walked where shadows stretch,
And mountain lines the heavens etch.

I may not have lived at the far extreme,
Nor dozed in some dull middle-dream;
But I have tasted the wild between,
In mossy glade and mountain green.
And that, dear friend, is tale enough
For one whose heart is quietly tough.

Often, I've left the maps upon the shelf,
To find a sturdier version of myself !! 

˜Surya

Explorer of Rhyming Traps