Holiday’s Challenge to our Soul

The calendar routine is set aside, released from enslavement to its rhythms
The prospect of a week or two of uncharted freedom leaves some uneasy
Perhaps the regularity of familiar patterns has turned us into automatons
We seek liberty but fear the impending loss of habitual strictures

However, no turning back now, forward is the only choice remaining
And so we set off on our journey casting aside our doubts and trepidation
We move steadily towards our destination, relieved no incident has impeded
Our progress to the long-planned journey’s end

Within a few hours of our arrival, new sights and sounds have our mind assaulted
New situations, and novel experiences soon cast aside our earlier foreboding
As we begin to feel the joy of patterns unfamiliar and surprises unforeseen
Thus re-awakened to a fresh and different mode of living

Those early days of holiday seem to pass at their own plodding pace
But very soon the tempo of life’s carousel accelerates
Each day now filled from dawn to late sunset
With activity to stimulate our bodies and our minds

This onslaught of frenetic activity, and sometimes quiet reflection
Has quite dissipated the doleful mood which marked our earlier arrival
So that now the prospect of the end of our vacation
Is viewed with equal disquiet as was the start

Perhaps most holidays are too short, not sufficient time
To disengage from all that would our lives oppress
Yet if they were to become much longer
How would we cope with re-entry to reality?

Ken Fisher