For a day...together

I wasn't there for the first steps,

the first words shared,

the quiet beginning of this circle.

I arrive a day or two in -

when something has already started to take shape.

And still, there is space for me.

Because this path

doesn't belong to a moment -

it belongs to movement,

to anyone willing to step in and walk.

Around us,

the earth has been here all along -

steady beneath every foot,

holding the weight of all our stories.

The trees don't ask when we arrived.

The wind doesn't measure how long we'll stay.

It all keeps offering itself -

breath, ground, presence - again and again.

And maybe community is like that too:

not something we miss or arrive too late for,

but something we enter by being here -

by noticing, by walking side by side.

Because I am here just for this day,

I will walk with you, and then I will say goodbye.

But still - this counts.

This step, this shared breath,

this brief weaving together of lives and paths.

Held by the same earth, under the same sky -

for a moment, we belong to each other.

Prayer:

For this day, for these people, and for the earth that holds us -

we give thanks. Help us to walk gently, together, and be fully here. Amen

I wrote this poem/reflection at a time when I was planning to be on the West Midlands Methodist District Pilgrimage, in the Golden Valley Way, Herefordshire after Easter 2026. My plans were changed due to personal circumstances in my family and therefore I could only join my fellow pilgrim's for one day.

Being out in nature even for one day, in fellowship and companionship enabled me to connect with both a community of friends and the earth. A wonderful experience to be thankful for.

© Stephen Allen June 2026