john o'donohue travel poem

For the Traveler

Every time you leave home, Another road takes you Into a world you were never in.   New strangers on other paths await. New places that have never seen you Will startle a little at your entry. Old places that know you well Will pretend nothing Changed since your last visit.   When you travel, you find yourself Alone in a different way, More attentive now To the self you bring along, Your more subtle eye watching You abroad; and how what meets you Touches that part of the heart That lies low at home:   How you unexpectedly attune To the timbre in some voice, Opening in conversation You want to take in To where your longing Has pressed hard enough Inward, on some unsaid dark, To create a crystal of insight You could not have known You needed To illuminate Your way.   When you travel, A new silence Goes with you, And if you listen, You will hear What your heart would Love to say.   A journey can become a sacred thing: Make sure, before you go, To take the time To bless your going forth, To free your heart of ballast So that the compass of your soul Might direct you toward The territories of spirit Where you will discover More of your hidden life, And the urgencies That deserve to claim you.   May you travel in an awakened way, Gathered wisely into your inner ground; That you may not waste the invitations Which wait along the way to transform you.   May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, And live your time away to its fullest; Return home more enriched, and free To balance the gift of days which call you.   ~ John O'Donohue ~

SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: How do you relate to the notion that a journey can become a sacred thing? Can you share an experience of a journey where a silence within you helped you hear your heart? What helps be more attentive to the self you bring along?

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 I love John expressing the feelings and thoughts that are just below the surface each day as we live the sanctuary of our homes.  My heart fluttered just a bit in reading this, as I could feel the excitement, the expectation and, yes, the bit of trepidation as I leave my home in the morning.  I believe each day is sacred and each day is an opportunity to transform something.  Thank you, John, for expressing it so beautifully.  Each morning, I, as a practicing Buddhist, chant the mantra Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, to my mandala to commune with my higher self and set the tone for the day.  I return each evening to perform the ritual again.  This morning and evening rhythm refreshes, invigorates and cleanses my life to start the next daily journey.  

On Dec 7, 2016 me wrote :

 I met a very special man 11 (ish) years ago. Though words cannot explain it, I felt a Spiritual connection at our first meeting.  Roughly, 9 years ago I read John O'Donohue's book entitled Anam Cara.  This book "put into words" the relationship my soul had and still has with him.  My Path and his do not often cross (physically) ... But  (Spiritually) I do not go anywhere without him.  For God so loved me, He blessed me with my Anam Cara ... And, for this gift, I am soooo thankful!  Namaste

On Dec 6, 2016 Kristin Pedemonti wrote :

 oh yes, a journey is indeed a sacred thing, no matter if a journey to a foreign land or the journey in our own town or city; it is all about the intention we set: are we taking the journey with an open heart, mind and soul? Are we allowing for the unexpected to awe us? Are we opening our eyes to truly see the beauty all around us, even if it is simply a tree on the street where we live? Are we engaging with people heart to heart? Are we seeking to grow and learn especially if immersed in a culture other than our own? I  have found that many times when i travel, I've been to 27 countries so far: 20 of them through Storytelling performances/experiences, I seek to learn, grow and understand as well as soak in unexpected experiences whether that is a cultural celebration like the one i happened upon in Peru where hundreds gathered in a town square and ate a feast of seaweed, cuy, cheese, and tiny potatoes and there was singing and chanting too. i had little idea what was happening, but my smiling face and open attitude soon had  me pulled in with the locals. It was wonderful! Or the time in in Italy when i was on a train solo seated with a couple in their 80s and a young woman in her 20's, all Italian. I had only packed some crackers for what was supposed to be a 2 hour ride. they all had sandwiches and the older couple had a little picnic basket and wine too. They shared it with me upon eyeing  my crackers and the 20 something invited me to her village for a food fest. So  being open as well as being quiet enough to hear'/see the potential extra journeys leads to a richer travel. Be open, be kind, and be loving and see what unfolds! <3

1 reply : Amy | Post Your Reply

On dec 6, 2016 jagdish p dave wrote :.

 A call comes from within to wake up to explore new and unknown territories. Is it exciting? Is it frightening? Is it both exciting and frightening? There have been times in my life when I had put my life on hold. The fear of being bitten again would stop me from traveling on the road unknown with no guide or a compassionate companion. I felt stuck. The stream of life getting dried. I let myself go quietly in this zone. A new day began and I let myself breathe fresh air, open my eyes to see the beckoning light. I stood up and started walking. There was something within me was still live and gave me the energy to take new steps. It felt like the autumn of my life was receiving the blessings of the upcoming spring. When I was in a high school, I read and loved a poem in my language Gujarati. I still remember the title of the poem- "Jivanni gati santana!" Life, like a river, moves on! Those words have inspired me and have been a mantra for me to move on and not not to get stuck with the life holding past. May we let go of the life-holding past and embrace the the new day with hope, courage and gratitude! Namaste. Jagdish P Dave

1 reply : Trudie | Post Your Reply

On dec 6, 2016 mony wrote :.

The journey is the Soul's eternal invitation to connect with the Love that is its essence. Every step becomes sacred. Every breath, a deepening of the connection. I experienced this over and again on my pilgrimage walking from Rome to Jerusalem. The body disappears. The mind stills; and all that is left is the heart, opened and receiving.   The true journey is maintaining that sense of openness and wonder in what is disguised as "ordinary life". The breath, with yoga, remain my daily practice on this pilgrimage called life. <3

On Dec 3, 2016 david doane wrote :

 A journey is sacred that proceeds by following one's inner voice or spirit, that engenders learning, growth, and becoming more whole, and likely takes one where he or she doesn't know he or she is going.  When I do that kind of journeying, mostly for brief durations during some days, I don't have external goals and I block out external distractions which creates a silence to the outside world that helps me hear and be guided by my inside world.  Such journeying is alive for me and helps me be more attentive to my inner self.  Such journeying is its own reward.

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Thursday, May 14, 2015

John o'donohue: "for the traveler".

3 comments :

I read this poem aloud to my husband and three of our relatives in the airport on our way to Sicily and Italy. I kept it in my passport pouch, and at the end of our journey, I read it once again as we reflected on all our adventures. Thank you for finding and sharing such wonderful poems, Phyllis!

Sicily! Italy! Wish I could have been in your passport pouch! You're very welcome, Marianne. And I hope you had an incredible trip.

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John O’Donohue Poems – Four of our Favorites

This week marks the anniversary of both the birth (1 Jan 1956) and the death (4 January 2008) of the Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue …   

We remember the poet with four of our favorite John O’Donohue poems …

  *** Our Intro Guide to John O’Donohue’s work

For One Who is Exhausted, A Blessing

John O’Donohue

When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic, Time takes on the strain until it breaks; Then all the unattended stress falls in On the mind like an endless, increasing weight.

[ Read the Full Poem ]

  John O’Donohue Poems

NEXT POEM >>>>>>

  NOTE: Updated November 2021 to clean up formatting and SEO.

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For the traveler: a poem by john o’donohue.

Every time you leave home, Another road takes you Into a world you were never in. New strangers on other paths await. New places that have never seen you Will startle a little at your entry. Old places that know you well Will pretend nothing Changed since your last visit. When you travel, you find yourself Alone in a different way, More attentive now To the self you bring along, Your more subtle eye watching You abroad; and how what meets you Touches that part of the heart That lies low at home: How you unexpectedly attune To the timbre in some voice, Opening in conversation You want to take in To where your longing Has pressed hard enough Inward, on some unsaid dark, To create a crystal of insight You could not have known You needed To illuminate Your way. When you travel, A new silence Goes with you, And if you listen, You will hear What your heart would Love to say. A journey can become a sacred thing: Make sure, before you go, To take the time To bless your going forth, To free your heart of ballast So that the compass of your soul Might direct you toward The territories of spirit Where you will discover More of your hidden life, And the urgencies That deserve to claim you. May you travel in an awakened way, Gathered wisely into your inner ground; That you may not waste the invitations Which wait along the way to transform you. May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, And live your time away to its fullest; Return home more enriched, and free To balance the gift of days which call you. ~ John O’Donohue ~

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Christopher Wong

Entrepreneur, urban farmer, toronto.

Poetry Series #9: For the Traveler, by John O’Donohue

For the traveler, by john o’donohue.

Every time you leave home, Another road takes you Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await. New places that have never seen you Will startle a little at your entry. Old places that know you well Will pretend nothing Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself Alone in a different way, More attentive now To the self you bring along, Your more subtle eye watching You abroad; and how what meets you Touches that part of the heart That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune To the timbre in some voice, Opening in conversation You want to take in To where your longing Has pressed hard enough Inward, on some unsaid dark, To create a crystal of insight You could not have known You needed To illuminate Your way.

When you travel, A new silence Goes with you, And if you listen, You will hear What your heart would Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing: Make sure, before you go, To take the time To bless your going forth, To free your heart of ballast So that the compass of your soul Might direct you toward The territories of spirit Where you will discover More of your hidden life, And the urgencies That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way, Gathered wisely into your inner ground; That you may not waste the invitations Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, And live your time away to its fullest; Return home more enriched, and free To balance the gift of days which call you.

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Saturday, May 30, 2015

For the traveler - john o'donohue....

4 comments:

This is so lovely...personally the feeling of release is with me whenever I travel, I feel so free, I think I was meant to be a gypsy...x

Hey Sue! Good to see you here again... Love your post today! Hope you are released soon, so you can spread those gypsy wings and fly! Heart Hugs.

Pretty! We're going to hit the road for a couple of days too, as soon as oral exam is over on Tuesday!

Good luck on your exam! :) When is graduation?

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Chuck Surface Writings & Illumined Poetry

“For the Traveler,” by John O’Donohue (2008)

Every time you leave home, Another road takes you Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await. New places that have never seen you Will startle a little at your entry. Old places that know you well Will pretend nothing Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself Alone in a different way, More attentive now To the self you bring along, Your more subtle eye watching You abroad; and how what meets you Touches that part of the heart That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune To the timbre in some voice, Opening in conversation You want to take in To where your longing Has pressed hard enough Inward, on some unsaid dark, To create a crystal of insight You could not have known You needed To illuminate Your way.

When you travel, A new silence Goes with you, And if you listen, You will hear What your heart would Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing: Make sure, before you go, To take the time To bless your going forth, To free your heart of ballast So that the compass of your soul Might direct you toward The territories of spirit Where you will discover More of your hidden life, And the urgencies That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way, Gathered wisely into your inner ground; That you may not waste the invitations Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, And live your time away to its fullest; Return home more enriched, and free To balance the gift of days which call you.

Read To Bless the Space Between Us

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• Jun 2, 2015

"For the Traveler", by John O'Donohue

Updated: Apr 30, 2022

Here is a beautiful blessing for all travelers, by John O'Donohue

For the Traveler

Every time you leave home, Another road takes you Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await. New places that have never seen you Will startle a little at your entry. Old places that know you well Will pretend nothing Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself Alone in a different way, More attentive now To the self you bring along, Your more subtle eye watching You abroad; and how what meets you Touches that part of the heart That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune To the timbre in some voice, Opening in conversation You want to take in To where your longing Has pressed hard enough Inward, on some unsaid dark, To create a crystal of insight You could not have known You needed To illuminate Your way.

When you travel, A new silence Goes with you, And if you listen, You will hear What your heart would Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing: Make sure, before you go, To take the time To bless your going forth, To free your heart of ballast So that the compass of your soul Might direct you toward The territories of spirit Where you will discover More of your hidden life, And the urgencies That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way, Gathered wisely into your inner ground; That you may not waste the invitations Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, And live your time away to its fullest; Return home more enriched, and free To balance the gift of days which call you.

- John O'Donohue, "To Bless the Space Between Us'

More poems by John O'Donohue:

For The Interim Time

For Loneliness

To Learn From Animal Being

For Solitude

A Morning Offering

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'for the traveller', a poem by john o'donohue.

Every time you leave home, Another road takes you Into a world you were never in. New strangers on other paths await. New places that have never seen you Will startle a little at your entry. Old places that know you well Will pretend nothing Changed since your last visit. When you travel, you find yourself Alone in a different way, More attentive now To the self you bring along, Your more subtle eye watching You abroad; and how what meets you Touches that part of the heart That lies low at home: How you unexpectedly attune To the timbre in some voice, Opening in conversation You want to take in To where your longing Has pressed hard enough Inward, on some unsaid dark, To create a crystal of insight You could not have known You needed To illuminate Your way. When you travel, A new silence Goes with you, And if you listen, You will hear What your heart would Love to say. A journey can become a sacred thing: Make sure, before you go, To take the time To bless your going forth, To free your heart of ballast So that the compass of your soul Might direct you toward The territories of spirit Where you will discover More of your hidden life, And the urgencies That deserve to claim you. May you travel in an awakened way, Gathered wisely into your inner ground; That you may not waste the invitations Which wait along the way to transform you. May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, And live your time away to its fullest; Return home more enriched, and free To balance the gift of days which call you.

Linda Graham, MFT

For the traveler – john o’donohue.

(As you read this, I will have just taught “Bouncing Back” for four days in Brisbane and Melbourne, Australia. My good friend Marilynne read me this poem the night before I left to travel. The instructions for resilience and well-being are woven throughout the beloved Irish poet John O’Donohue’s words. May you be find new “crystals of insight you could not have known you needed” on all your travels, near and far.)

For the Traveler – by John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us

Every time you leave home, Another road takes you Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await. New places that have never seen you Will startle a little at your entry. Old places that know you well Will pretend nothing Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself Alone in a different way More attentive now To the self you bring along, Your more subtle eye watching You abroad; and how what meets you Touches that part of the heart That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune To the timbre in some voice, Opening a conversation You want to take in To where your longing Has pressed hard enough Inward, on some unsaid dark, To create a crystal of insight You could not have known You needed To illuminate Your way.

When you travel, A new silence goes with you, And if you listen, You will hear What your heart would Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing: Make sure, before you go, To take the time To bless your going forth, To free your heart of ballast So that the compass of your soul Might direct you toward The territories of spirit Where you will discover More of your hidden life, And the urgencies That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way, Gathered wisely into your inner ground; That you may not waste the invitations Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, And live your time away to its fullest; Return home more enriched, and free To balance the gift of days which call you.

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The timeless Celtic spirituality of John O’Donohue, poet and priest

The untamed landscape of Ireland’s western coastline comes alive in the writings of the late John O’Donohue, an Irish priest, poet and author. There, in what he called a “crucible of Celtic Christianity,” O’Donohue’s writing style was forged, fusing his doctoral studies on Hegelian philosophy and his experience as a Catholic priest for 19 years with his observances of the mystery and beauty of the natural world—an essential element of the Celtic spiritual tradition.

In his 1996 book, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom , O’Donohue, who died in 2008, describes his search for God in the terrain: “Each stone has a different face. Often the angle of the light falls gently enough to bring out the shy presence of each stone. Here it feels as if a wild, surrealistic God laid down the whole landscape.”

I was introduced to O’Donohue’s work just before I set out for “Erasmus” (a more formal way of saying “study abroad”) at Trinity College Dublin during my undergraduate studies. In the semester before I left, as the eagerness and anxieties about living abroad began to flare, one of my English professors introduced me to O’Donohue through his concept of “thresholds.” I left her office hours with a copy of one of O’Donohue’s collections, To Bless The Space Between Us:A Book of Blessings. In it, he writes, “it is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds; to take your time; to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there.” That spring, as I sat restlessly on my flight from Boston to Dublin, O’Donohue’s words felt poignant and true: “The time has come to cross.”

Born the youngest of four children in 1956, O’Donohue was raised along the harsh coast of the Irish Sea in the Burren region of western Ireland. In an interview for the podcast “On Being with Krista Tippett,” O’Donohue said that growing up in this environment was like existing in an “ancient conversation between the ocean and the stone.”

O’Donohue knits together the Celtic and Judeo-Christian philosophical and theological traditions, bringing them into dialogue with one another through prose poetry and short essays. Who, and perhaps more importantly, where is God? O’Donohue asks. His enchantment with the natural world is made manifest in his writings, which focus on how paying attention to the outer landscape of our world cultivates the inner landscape of our soul.

O’Donohue postulates that we feel the most alive in the presence of what is beautiful. In Divine Beauty: The Invisible Embrace , he writes that beauty is “not just in the eye of the beholder” but that “if our style of looking becomes beautiful, then beauty will become visible and shine forth for us.” Beauty surrounds us “like a great mystery,” and when we discover it or notice it, beauty enlivens us because “the beautiful meets the needs of our soul.”

Much like how Julian of Norwich described the consistent and intimate loving presence of God, so too does O’Donohue insist that God intimately surrounds us via the natural world. God balances between the infinite mystery, something entirely unknowable, and the tangible landscape of beauty, something we only catch glimmers of when we, as O’Donohue explained to Tippet, “are really paying attention.” Here, beauty is just another name for God. Thus when we are experiencing beauty—O’Donohue names art, music and nature as examples in this interview—we are coming “into the fullness of who we are,” of God who made us to be. When we notice the beautiful around us, we see God.

O’Donohue sees his poems and writings as a means to access the beauty of the ordinary. He told Tippet that readers of poetry “draw alongside the mystery [of God] as it is emerging.” By creating what he called “a pedagogy of interiority” in his collection of works, O’Donohue proves that he is not just a gifted contemplative writer but also a cartographer of the soul, mapping how the soul desires and discovers beauty since “beauty is our human calling.” O’Donohue has crafted a field guide for exploring the confusions and longings of our times. His poetic themes cover the journey of our earthly lives, writing about birth, life transitions and death, all while asking: How does the soul find beauty?

Anam Cara , meaning “soul friend” in Gaelic, is O’Donohue’s most popular text. O’Donohue states that one of the ways we desire beauty/God is in the holiness of community. Community is something that our soul longs for, O’Donahue insists, writing that “to be holy is to be home, to be able to rest in the house of belonging that we call the soul.” The sacramental principle of the Celtic spiritual tradition holds that everything is sacred because nothing falls outside the bounds of God’s love and grace. There is no divide between the secular and the sacred, the banal and wonderful, because God is always at work. The spiritual writer Esther De Waal aptly describes it in her book Every Earthly Blessing : “The Celtic approach to God opens up a world in which nothing is too common to be exalted and nothing is so exalted that it cannot be made common.”

In To Bless The Space Between Us , O’Donohue notes that “though we know one another’s names and recognize one another’s faces, we never know what destiny shapes each life.” The same mystery that surrounds an unknowable God is the mystery that creates our human lives. He continues: “The script of individual destiny is secret; it is hidden behind and beneath the sequence of happenings that is continually unfolding for us.” Thus, when we notice the beauty “hidden behind and beneath” the ordinary, we discover more of what our soul longs for.

O’Donohue died unexpectedly in 2008 at age 52, and at the time, he had been reportedly working on a major book on the teachings of the German mystical writer Meister Eckhart. In many of his published writings, O’Donohue wrestled with Eckhart’s notion that “if one knows anything in God and affixes any name to it, that is not God.”

In his interview with Tippet, one of the last interviews he gave before his death, O’Donohue insisted that when we comprehend that we will never fully know God, our “whole heart wakens up” to the beauty around us as we try to glimpse God in the everyday.

And for those who struggle to attune themselves to the beauty of our everyday lives, O’Donohue’s poem “For a New Beginning” offers timeless encouragement:

Awaken your spirit to adventure Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk Soon you will home in a new rhythm For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

Christine Lenahan is a Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., Fellow at America.

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• Destinations

18 Poems About Travel to Inspire Your Traveler’s Soul to See the World

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Within the depths of every adventurous spirit lies a yearning for exploration, a longing to traverse the far reaches of the Earth, and a desire to witness the wonders that lie beyond our familiar horizons.

The world is a tapestry of enchanting landscapes, vibrant cultures, and hidden treasures, inviting us to venture forth and embrace its splendor.

Through the evocative power of poetry, let us embark on a journey of inspiration and discovery , as these poems transport us to distant lands, stoke the flames of wanderlust, and awaken the traveler within. So pack your bags, open your heart to the allure of the unknown, and let these verses guide you to see the world with new eyes. Welcome to poems about travel to inspire your traveler’s soul.

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• 1. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
• 2. Against the Shore by Atticus
• 3. The Opportune Moment by Sheenagh Pugh
• 4. A Prayer for Travelers by Anon
• 5. Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman
• 6. Travel by Edna St. Vincent Millay
• 7. On the World by Francis Quarles
• 8. Die Slowly by Martha Medeiros
• 9. If Once You Have Slept on an Island by Rachel Field
• 10. The Moment by Margaret Atwood
• 11. Freedom by Olive Runner
• 12. Poem About Travel by Drewniverses
• 13. Traveling by Nayyirah Waheed
• 14. P.S. I Love You by H. Jackson Brown
• 15. For the Traveler by John O’Donohue
• 16. Why Do I Travel? Author Unknown
• 17. Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson
• 18. Night Traveler by Deepa Thomas

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost  / Poems About Travel 

Against the Shore by Atticus

against the shore,

restless like

for any adventure,

that blew along her way

Against the Shore by Atticus / Poems About Travel

The Opportune Moment by Sheenagh Pugh

When you go ashore in that town,

take neither a camera nor a notebook.

However many photographs you upload

of that street, the smell of almond paste

will be missing; the harbour will not sound

of wind slapping on chains. You will read

notes like “Sami church”, later, and know

you saw nothing, never put it where

you could find it again, were never

really there. When you go ashore

in the small port with the rusty trawlers,

there will be fur hawkers who all look

like Genghis Khan on a market stall,

crumbling pavements, roses frozen in bud,

an altar with wool hangings, vessels

like canal ware, a Madonna

with a Russian doll face. When you go

ashore, take nothing but the knowledge

that where you are, you never will be again.

The Opportune Moment by Sheenagh Pugh /  Poems About Travel Journeys

A Prayer for Travelers by Anon

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

A Prayer for Travelers by Anon / Travel Poetry 

Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,

Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me leading me wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,

Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,

Strong and content I travel the open road.

Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman / Poems About Traveling Through Life

Travel by Edna St. Vincent Millay

The railroad track is miles away,

And the day is loud with voices speaking,

Yet there isn’t a train goes by all day

But I hear its whistle shrieking.

All night there isn’t a train goes by,

Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,

But I see its cinders red on the sky,

And hear its engine steaming.

My heart is warm with the friends I make,

And better friends I’ll not be knowing;

Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take,

No matter where it’s going.

Travel by Edna St. Vincent Millay / Poems About Travel

On the World by Francis Quarles

The world’s an inn; and I her guest.

I eat; I drink; I take my rest.

My hostess, nature, does deny me

Nothing, wherewith she can supply me;

Where, having stayed a while, I pay

Her lavish bills, and go my way.

On the World by Francis Quarles / Poems About Traveling the World

Die Slowly by Martha Medeiros

He who becomes the slave of habit,

who follows the same routes every day,

who never changes pace,

who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,

who does not speak and does not experience,

dies slowly.

He or she who shuns passion,

who prefers black on white,

dotting ones i’s rather than a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer,

that turn a yawn into a smile,

that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,

He or she who does not turn things topsy-turvy,

who is unhappy at work,

who does not risk certainty for uncertainty,

to thus follow a dream,

those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives,

die slowly.

He who does not travel, who does not read,

who does not listen to music,

who does not find grace in himself,

she who does not find grace in herself,

He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,

who does not allow himself to be helped,

who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck, about the rain that never stops,

He or she who abandons a project before starting it, who fails to ask questions on subjects he doesn’t know, he or she who doesn’t reply when they are asked something they do know,

Let’s try and avoid death in small doses,

reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.

Only a burning patience will lead

to the attainment of a splendid happiness

Die Slowly by Martha Medeiros / Poems About Why You Need to Travel 

If Once You Have Slept on an Island by Rachel Field

If once you have slept on an island

You’ll never be quite the same;

You may look as you looked the day before

And go by the same old name,

You may bustle about in street and shop;

You may sit at home and sew,

But you’ll see blue water and wheeling gulls

Wherever your feet may go.

You may chat with the neighbors of this and that

And close to your fire keep,

But you’ll hear ship whistle and lighthouse bell

And tides beat through your sleep.

Oh, you won’t know why, and you can’t say how

Such change upon you came,

But – once you have slept on an island

You’ll never be quite the same!

If Once You Have Slept on an Island by Rachel Field / Poems About Travel And How It Changes Us

The Moment by Margaret Atwood

The moment when, after many years

of hard work and a long voyage

you stand in the centre of your room,

house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,

knowing at last how you got there,

and say, I own this,

is the same moment when the trees unloose

their soft arms from around you,

the birds take back their language,

the cliffs fissure and collapse,

the air moves back from you like a wave

and you can’t breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing.

You were a visitor, time after time

climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.

We never belonged to you.

You never found us.

It was always the other way round.

The Moment by Margaret Atwood / Famous Travel Poems

Freedom by Olive Runner

Give me the long, straight road before me,

A clear, cold day with a nipping air,

Tall, bare trees to run on beside me,

A heart that is light and free from care.

Then let me go! – I care not whither

My feet may lead, for my spirit shall be

Free as the brook that flows to the river,

Free as the river that flows to the sea.

Freedom by Olive Runner / Poems About Travel

Poem About Travel by Drewniverses

You are not a tree. You are not bound

to the ground you walk on. You have

wings and dreams and a heart full of

wonder. So pick up your feet and go.

Spread kindness like a wildflower

wherever you go. Fall in love with the

life you live, and always leave people

better than you found them.

Poem About Travel by Drewniverses / Poems About Travel

Traveling by Nayyirah Waheed

be insecure

allow yourself lowness.

know that it is

the way to who you are.

Traveling by Nayyirah Waheed / Poems About Travel and Adventure

P.S. I Love You by H. Jackson Brown

Twenty years from now

You’ll be more disappointed

By the things you didn’t do

Than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines.

Sail away from the harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

P.S. I Love You by H. Jackson Brown / Poems About Travel Why You Need to Travel the World

For the Traveler by John O’Donohue

Every time you leave home,

Another road takes you

Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await.

New places that have never seen you

Will startle a little at your entry.

Old places that know you well

Will pretend nothing

Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself

Alone in a different way,

More attentive now

To the self you bring along,

Your more subtle eye watching

You abroad; and how what meets you

Touches that part of the heart

That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune

To the timbre in some voice,

Opening in conversation

You want to take in

To where your longing

Has pressed hard enough

Inward, on some unsaid dark,

To create a crystal of insight

You could not have known

To illuminate

When you travel,

A new silence

Goes with you,

And if you listen,

You will hear

What your heart would

Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing:

Make sure, before you go,

To take the time

To bless your going forth,

To free your heart of ballast

So that the compass of your soul

Might direct you toward

The territories of spirit

Where you will discover

More of your hidden life,

And the urgencies

That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way,

Gathered wisely into your inner ground;

That you may not waste the invitations

Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,

And live your time away to its fullest;

Return home more enriched, and free

To balance the gift of days which call you.

For the Traveler by John O’Donohue / Poems About Travel and How It Changes Us

Why Do I Travel? Author Unknown

It is on the road that my inner voice speaks the loudest and my heart beats the strongest.

It is on the road that I take extra pride in my wooly hair, full features and lineage.

It is on the road that I develop extra senses and the hairs on my arms stand up and say “Sana, don’t go there”, and I listen.

It’s when I safety pin my money to my underclothes and count it a million times before I go to sleep,

It is on the road that I am a poet, an ambassador, a dancer, medicine woman, an angel and even a genius.

It’s on the road that I am fearless and unstoppable and if necessary ball up my fist and fight back.

It is on the road that I talk to my deceased parents and they speak back

It’s on the road that I reprimand myself, and set new goals, refuel, stop and begin again.

It is on the road that I experience what freedom truly is.

It is my travel that has transformed me making me a citizen of the world. When my humanness, compassion and affection are raised to a new level and I share unconditionally.

Why Do I Travel? Author Unknown / Poems About Travel

Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson

I should like to rise and go

Where the golden apples grow;—

Where below another sky

Parrot islands anchored lie,

And, watched by cockatoos and goats,

Lonely Crusoes building boats;—

Where in sunshine reaching out

Eastern cities, miles about,

Are with mosque and minaret

Among sandy gardens set,

And the rich goods from near and far

Hang for sale in the bazaar,—

Where the Great Wall round China goes,

And on one side the desert blows,

And with bell and voice and drum

Cities on the other hum;—

Where are forests, hot as fire,

Wide as England, tall as a spire,

Full of apes and cocoa-nuts

And the negro hunters’ huts;—

Where the knotty crocodile

Lies and blinks in the Nile,

And the red flamingo flies

Hunting fish before his eyes;—

Where in jungles, near and far,

Man-devouring tigers are,

Lying close and giving ear

Lest the hunt be drawing near,

Or a comer-by be seen

Swinging in a palanquin;—

Where among the desert sands

Some deserted city stands,

All its children, sweep and prince,

Grown to manhood ages since,

Not a foot in street or house,

Not a stir of child or mouse,

And when kindly falls the night,

In all the town no spark of light.

There I’ll come when I’m a man

With a camel caravan;

Light a fire in the gloom

Of some dusty dining-room;

See the pictures on the walls,

Heroes, fights and festivals;

And in a corner find the toys

Of the old Egyptian boys.

Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson / Poems About Travel

Night Traveler by Deepa Thomas

I am a night traveler

Travel all through the night

And my bed is a sailing boat

I reach for my bed every night

And take a trip places far away

To see new things and people

I travel past the harbors

Full of anchored boats

I travel past the beaches

With swaying coconut trees

I watch the waves

Embracing the shore

I watch the kids playing

And reach out my arms

Then I touch my own bed

Here comes a flash

And my boat is back

And I am back in bed

My boat sails every night

And reach home with morning light

Never did it anchor once

Still traveling every day

Hoping to reach

That unknown destination

Night Travel by Deepa Thomas / Poems About Travel

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For the Traveller - John O'Donohue

Forvie. 2020

Every time you leave home, Another road takes you Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await. New places that have never seen you Will startle a little at your entry. Old places that know you well Will pretend nothing Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself Alone in a different way, More attentive now To the self you bring along, Your more subtle eye watching You abroad; and how what meets you Touches that part of the heart That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune To the timbre in some voice, Opening in conversation You want to take in To where your longing Has pressed hard enough Inward, on some unsaid dark, To create a crystal of insight You could not have known You needed To illuminate Your way.

When you travel, A new silence Goes with you, And if you listen, You will hear What your heart would Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing: Make sure, before you go, To take the time To bless your going forth, To free your heart of ballast So that the compass of your soul Might direct you toward The territories of spirit Where you will discover More of your hidden life, And the urgencies That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way, Gathered wisely into your inner ground; That you may not waste the invitations Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, And live your time away to its fullest; Return home more enriched, and free To balance the gift of days which call you.

This Above All - Shakespeare

Deep loving mother - elly kinross.

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For One Who Is Exhausted, a Blessing

John O’Donohue

December 22, 2017

When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic, Time takes on the strain until it breaks; Then all the unattended stress falls in On the mind like an endless, increasing weight.

The light in the mind becomes dim. Things you could take in your stride before Now become laborsome events of will.

Weariness invades your spirit. Gravity begins falling inside you, Dragging down every bone.

The tide you never valued has gone out. And you are marooned on unsure ground. Something within you has closed down; And you cannot push yourself back to life.

You have been forced to enter empty time. The desire that drove you has relinquished. There is nothing else to do now but rest And patiently learn to receive the self You have forsaken in the race of days.

At first your thinking will darken And sadness take over like listless weather. The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.

You have traveled too fast over false ground; Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight, Taking time to open the well of color That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone Until its calmness can claim you. Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit. Learn to linger around someone of ease Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself, Having learned a new respect for your heart And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

Reprinted with permission from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings by John O’Donohue, published in the U.K. as Benedictus . 

Contributors

John O’Donohue was a poet, theologian, and philosopher. He authored beloved books, including Anam Ċara and Beauty: The Invisible Embrace . To Bless the Space Between Us , a collection of blessings, was published posthumously. A wonderful book drawn from his voice in conversation, Walking in Wonder: Eternal Wisdom for a Modern World , was published in November 2018.

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September 10, 2018

David Whyte

Poetry from the on being gathering (opening night).

This year, we were thrilled to host our very first On Being Gathering — a four-day coming-together of the On Being community for reflection, conversation, and companionship — at the 1440 Multiversity in the redwoods of Scotts Valley, California. We greeted each day with verse from some of our most beloved poets — and now we’d like to share these delightful moments with all of you. Here is how David Whyte opened for us on Friday night.

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NEW BOOK RELEASE: The 25th Anniversary Edition of Anam Cara. More info here

NEW! Wild Goose Studio O'Donohue Art Pieces - Learn more.

IRELAND TOURS 2024 - The Wellspring of Presence: John O'Donohue's West of Ireland Tours, April and September, 2024 MORE INFO Both Tours Full.

John O'Donohue

• Philosopher

DVD : A Celtic Pilgrimage with John O'Donohue More Info

 John's On Being Interview: The Inner Landscape of Beauty

John O'Donohue's life cannot be encompassed within the one act of birth, life and death. He was not a finite act that existed and is now lost for evermore. He is just a story that is written, spoken and lives amongst us. Just as we are and continue to be. His themes of echo as the response of continuity, imagination as the ability to still see the mountain behind the mist, and absence as the transformed presence of the vanished, awaken our thinking and provide food for our spiritual journey in an increasingly hungry world. Pat O'Donohue (John's Brother)