The 99 Poem Challenge (Fox-Trot-9) ✓

71. Cascade -- The Journey

The 99 Poem Challenge
Fox-Trot-9

71. Cascade — The Journey

You are the truth and the way and the will,
For where you go and what you make of your life
Becomes the truth and the way for you
And the search for the truth and the way becomes your will—
For the destination and the journey are the same
And all you can know and all you need to know.

You live in a world of numberless masks
That you wear to fit into this constructed world of illusion,
In which you are asked to strive for and believe
In a truth outside yourself and in a way beyond yourself
And even against your will. Don't you know that
You are the truth and the way and the will?

Nobody alive or dead can decide your destination
Or the path you choose to get there
Or the reasons you have for getting there, not even you—
For the journey you walk is the life you live.
Don't you know its a quest to discover for yourself,
For where you go and what you make of your life?

The stress you inflict on the world and on yourself
Is just the passing of your madness through the chaos of modern life,
Torn away from life in your denial of the truth and the way to seek
After the transient pleasures of your constructed world.
Don't you know that everything we do and are and want to be
Becomes the truth and the way for you?

You live an inner world of struggling and conflicting wills
And are at the mercy of others controlling your life,
Telling you where to go and what to do and say and think,
From which you search for an escape to free yourself.
Don't you know the searching will goes forward and never backward
And the search for the truth and the way becomes your will?

The nature of the way is the life you live,
And the nature of the truth is your will to seek it,
And the nature of the the journey is in how you define it for yourself,
Whether standing still and waiting or walking far and searching.
Don't you know that there is no difference,
For the destination and the journey are the same?

The name of the truth and the way is nameless,
Though you may call the truth God or Jesus or Truth or Life
And may call the way Purgatory or Love or Science or Death;
There is no single way to gain it or search for it or wait for it.
Don't you know that is all you will know
And all you can know and all you need to know?

(To be continued...)

A/N: The Cascade, created by Udit Bhatia, is all about receptiveness, but in a smooth cascading way like a waterfall. The poem does not have any rhyme scheme; therefore, the layout is simple. Say the first verse has three lines. Line one of verse one becomes the last line of verse two. To follow in suit, the second line of verse one becomes the last line of verse three. The third line of verse one now becomes the last line of verse four, the last stanza of the poem. To make the Cascade an even longer poem, use more lines in verse one. For example, if verse one has 6 lines, the poem must have seven stanzas so that each line of verse one is reused as a refrain in each following stanza (a cascading effect).

Meter: Syllabic (Irregular)
Rhyme: (only repetition) ABCDEF xxxxxA xxxxxB xxxxxC xxxxxD xxxxxE xxxxxF