To Walk 500 Miles

Well you did it. You walked from the mountains, across all of Spain, to the sea. You went east to west, like the sun, and now? Ideally you could start each day with as much purpose and direction as every day from the past 36. But life isn't like that.
There are no yellow arrows guiding you in a direction. Even though you knew where the arrows were pointing, you were unsure of anything that would happen between you and that end. The end. That wild place where reality tries to slip back in for attention. Even though you're sure that reality is more like the Camino and less like what you're taught is normal, you manage to set all thoughts of future aside to keep being where you are right now.
A human spinning around on a giant ball called earth.
And everything is moving faster and slower than you are. Yet, your soles are the ones that hit the ground 35,000 times today. Your soul got lifted up by the clouds that tried to bring you down, and it felt so real that it has to be spiritual. So you get the special spiritual certificate from the front desk person who writes your name in Latin to confirm that you did it.
After all is said and done and the rush of doing it, 500 miles, wears off, you sit there.
What next?
What do days without yellow arrows mean? The heart yearns for that sense of direction and knowing. The body thanks you for giving it a rest. The mind wanders where it will proud and satisfied.
The past month was simple. The way it should be.
And I did it.
You did too.
You can too.

Taped Together

Currently, tape holds your world together.
The rip in your shorts, the arch of your foot, the pain in your knee. Pretty soon, the world around you will start believing in mummies. As the days go on, the current parts of your body that are stressed will displace their stress to other parts. Tape is always there for you. Even though every time you walk into a new store tape has a new name to use to find it.
But you always do after elaborate games of charades. By now, you are sure you could enter charade competitions. .
Even though your body aches, it still works, surprisingly.
Walking 500 miles isn't easy. Go figure.
Sometimes you want to scream. And you do. And temporarily you feel as crazy as you are.
And when you look at your hand with the wine bottle line, taped together of course, you'll find yourself wishing tape could hold together your thoughts. That it could close that hole where chaos leaks in and out so that you can feel peaceful as you move across the Meseta. The Italian man warned you that this part of the journey is for the mind, and your mind, pulled by physical pain with hints of emotional turmoil, is active. Even if you aren't spiritual, you end up having to face your spirit directly. Not even a good riddle can stop you from thinking about yourself.
About who you are.
What you are.
You are nothing more than a collection of the earth on foot. And although strong, you are fragile.
Although fragile, you are alive.
And alive, you are inspired to find the things you can use as mental tape.
What holds your spirit together as it processes everything?
Each step has become half mind half will, and you will move through it all,
Held together perhaps....
By tape