The Whole Wide World And Me Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

I walked many steps as a child
I read many books while at school
but travel was what fascinated me more than money;
so I traveled the whole wide world many times,
I let go of those places which I could not stop and see
but in those countries and cities where I stayed,
I enjoyed and had the very best of everything
that today as I age and recollect my journeys,
those memories cling to my heart like rosary beads;
and though my aching feet still long to travel more
I wish I was still that young to jump up and just go.

I have journeyed for years and decades
without stopping to look at the waxing moon,
nor the north star for any direction or any clue;
I just packed my bags and rushed to fly out
I felt like another country was waiting to embrace me
I felt so delighted when I saw that each place
had its own uniqueness and enchantment.

I met so many people who spoke so many languages,
since I could also speak Portuguese, Finnish and Arabic
I could communicate back with ease
whenever I landed in such familiar places;
I also ate so many foods and drank some good wines,
they all tasted the same every time I went to the next place
except the sourness was either vinegarish or too sweet
yet it always made me enjoy the free morning breakfast.

I traveled over many terrains and many highways,
I confronted the same weather in the same season
I heard people complaining it is very cold or very hot
though at that time of the year, climate plays the true host.
I traveled and got involved in a lot of sight-seeing
I never expected to stand in front of the Eiffel tower every time;
as before I longed to go to Paris but later I landed in Paris
so many times since it was the hub where connecting flights
to Europe originated and I got to see Eiffel Tower so frequently.

I flew back and forth to Europe like a migrating bird
but every time there was a delay in departures
it created a greater jet-lag when I landed;
and though my enthusiasm declined with age
I was lucky I could still travel like a soaring eagle
high up in those blue skies in the daylight
and it made me feel so gratified
that I could afford all my travelogues
just like I could buy myself an ice-cream of my choice.

Well, what else could I do better than look ahead
when the clouds of troubles kept colliding?
What else could I do better to uphold my passion to travel?
So with mute compulsion I completed my journeys
as dreams of satisfaction are what we often chase and fulfill.
We do, we see, we eat, we enjoy, we laugh and love
and we gamble with our energy and mundane geography
so that at the end of our life-cycle we know
how much we have made life worth its while
and how much we have traversed,
so that we can still compete to complete
whatever is left undone.

And I raced thro those airport terminals
so that I should never miss my flight
though I did sometimes;
and as the flight would takeoff
I would sit in silent agony
while the aircraft rushed across the oceans and seas;
and though I felt traumatized
when thro' those foggy clouds it chiseled its way,
I experienced intense turbulence
and I often said hurriedly my last prayers
imagining the aircraft would crash mid-air
or land in the deep sea below
and leave me bloated like a balloon.

Yet my desire to travel and see the wide world
with my own little two eyes became so ceaseless
that my hobby turned into a habit
as I bought a plane ticket and I traveled frequently
to forget the troubles my husband's relatives
were constantly creating for him;
and presently the grief I felt over the loss of my brother
was so deep and unforgettable
that I took to traveling to console my own self;
Thus, I managed to retain my share of serenity.

And though I have enjoyed whatever I could perceive,
it made me feel like Alexander the Conqueror,
it made me feel gentle and mightier than him;
and though many other people also travel the world
for leisure, pleasure or work,
my itineraries were only relevant my ego and reason;

But I am always so very thankful to God
for bringing me back home safely
enriched in patience and wisdom:
this always encouraged me to go back to another place
to gain better level of solace and courage
so that I could forgive those who were callous,
so that I could decrease my own unhappiness;

And whenever the cold wind blew onto my face
or the chilly snow grappled my feet and numbed me
I realized how futile was life when one freezes
as we can no longer breathe or eat, drink or sing;
and though I may have traveled the whole wide world,
I still have one last and final journey to travel
and that journey is the one
from where I shall never return
and I will travel that journey
with no ticket nor any baggage
but only with my soul
while a wooden box will hold my stiff body.