42 responses to “Solvitur ambulando”

1. “We do not talk,
   but listen
   to our footfalls, heartbeat
   breath and birds.
   we watch the wind
   and taste the scent of soil.”

   My favorite stanza.

   • Thank you… it captures the meditive part of walking.

   • Mine, too, Melissa. That was the one that really grabbed me!

2. A wonderful ode to your most recent walk. So many miles, such beautiful countryside. Carrying one’s home on one’s back for so many days while traversing fields and valleys makes one realize how very little we really need to survive and thrive. And it is always made better when one is with a loved one!

   • Indeed… and it is also an inner journey…

3. This is gorgeous! 💙 I especially admire this part;

   “We do not talk,
   but listen
   to our footfalls, heartbeat
   breath and birds.
   we watch the wind
   and taste the scent of soil.”

   • Thank you… it is the meditative part of walking I tried to capture.

     • You did a wonderful job of it, Bjorn! 🙂

4. I would love to walk more, Björn, but asthma and arthritis in my hips and ankles make it uncomfortable. My husband, however, is planning to walk Pedder’s Way in England. Your poem makes me long to join him. I love the way you evoke the landscape: the cairns, meandering path, stream and valleys, and the lines:

   ‘…listen
   to our footfalls, heartbeat
   breath and birds.
   We watch the wind
   and taste the scent of soil.’ Even though it’s only a short circuit, all is solved by walking round our village.

   • It is not the length of the walk, but the way you walk… so a stroll around the village is what I meant.

5. Sorry, it’s St. Cuthbert’s way, the old pilgrims’ path on the north-east coast of England.

   • That sounds very interesting… I have thought of maybe walking S:t Olov’s trail that goes through Sweden down to Trondheim… https://stolavsleden.com/

6. Bjorn, a tender telling ❤ I imagine you fell asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow (I hope you brought pillows!)

   • We had inflateble pillows, complemented by clothes.

7. The whole of it. Just beautiful.

   • Thanks

8. Beautiful–I felt like I was there with you. I like the sights and sounds of nature and the inner reflection.

   I don’t know if it was intentional, but I thought of Robert Frost.

   • The nod to Robert was intentional 🙂

     • I hoped it was! 😊

9. welcome back Bjorn! Wow what an adventure!

   • It was an experience…. not so very adventerous.

     • Wh

10. terrific: an ambulatory poem: I enjoy what you see in the clouds —

    • We were just much better to take good breaks.

11. Nice. We walk on in life. Your poem made me picture what you had written.

    • Walking is really part of life.

12. A beautiful, if brief, account for such an epic walk –

    “I see an elephant”
    but I only see a pig
    chasing a princess
    but never tell.

    – discretion is the better part of valour, Björn…

    • It was fun actually do cloud watching for the first time since we were kids….

13. Beautifully written Björn

    • Thank you so much

      • You’re welcome 😉

14. I love the imagery used here,I particularly liked the stanza

    “At night
    we listen to the sky,
    our tent, the home we carry
    hugs us gently
    as we drift into a sleep. “

    • Thank you… but the waking up was a bit rough

15. you so much of your walk into this wonderful poem – that 3rd stanza is like music

16. packed is missing from the comment above!

17. What an amazingly long walk you went on. It must have been very challenging! You poem images reflect the beauty of it all. A wet tent would have been soggy to pack up.

18. Hi Bjorn, I love this poem. I think it is my favourite of yours that I’ve read to date.

19. how you carry the thread from start to end, not wandering, but flowing, to the marvelous close ~

20. Gorgeous poem, Bjorn. I am wildly impressed with the journey you and your wife had! I would be thrilled with one quarter the length. Can only imagine how beautiful all the sights … thank you so much for sharing!

21. Beautiful! I love that ending.

22. The poem is a wonderful celebration of your pilgrimage, but it was especially good to hear you explain some of the background and experience of it.

23. step
    by step
    inside we meet
    ourselves afresh.

    Brilliant. Really enjoyed this very much, and it brings to life a (the) long trek..much harder to do than it appears.

    I see literary references, or perhaps it is just a poem that opens the mind to nature and the sky, or maybe it is just good writing — Frost of course, but also Gogol in the beginning (to paraphrase him: never take a straight path of you want to get somewhere quickly), Hemingway (the elephant) and possibly more. Sure, I may be reading too much into it but it makes the poem all the more of a delight to read, and this rare, beautiful optimism is a delight!

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