Life is lived in the in-between

A poem about liminal spaces

In this poem, I reflect on how we are so often in a rush to reach our destination that we miss the chance encounters and unexpected pleasures of the moments in between.

Life in Transit - Part 1

A poem by Wayne Visser

Life is lived in the in-between
In transit
Between coming and going
Between staying and moving on
Between here and there

And what we call home
What we call settled or contented
Is merely a resting place
A station for refuelling
A nexus for re-connecting
A junction for changing direction

The bus stops and train stations
The airports and traffic lights of our life
Are nodes linking us to our past
And windows peering into our future
They are choice matrixes
And platforms of destiny

At life’s stopping points
We bump into others and smile
(Or curse silently under our breath)
We pause long enough to reflect
To mull on our confusion
And share moments of clarity

So let us not be so impatient to leave
To wish we were somewhere else
Because life’s most unexpected surprises
Happen in the in-between
In the moments of passing touch
And the tangled knots of transition
Between boredom and panic
In the zone of chance
When the landscape is not rushing by

And love (the greatest surprise of all)
Is only to be found where paths cross
And journeys are re-routed
Where our most fixed plans change
And new destinations are contemplated
Love is seldom found at high speed
When we are looking for obvious landmarks
But rather when we are standing still enough
To notice subtle shifts in moods and patterns.

Source

From Life in Transit: Favourite Travel and Tribute Poems

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