a pilgrim’s faith – a poem by Karlo Sevilla

a pilgrim’s faith
 
gray overcast afternoon
he stands foot forward atop 
one end of a tightrope so high
looking down
the deep is just a blur
almost imperceptible
 
the martyrs say it’s best to refrain 
from downcast glances 
so he fixates forward 
the invisible other end
a destination so far 
beyond there’s not 
a single hint of horizon
 
all around mostly silence 
as with his every cautious step
and few and far between 
a dirge hums across the mesosphere
 
the pilgrimage so long
it seems mid-journey in perpetuity
no matter how much distance
his caved soles have covered
 
and nobody knows that longing 
itself secretly longs 
to cease being a word
but he’ll get there
first
 
 

Karlo Sevilla is the author of seven poetry collections, including the full-length Metro Manila Mammal (Soma Publishing, 2018) and the self-published Figuratively: A Chapbook of Shape Poems (2024). Shortlisted for the 2021 Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition and thrice nominated for the Best of the Net, his poems appear in Philippines Graphic, Philippines Free Press, PILGRIM: A Journal of Catholic Experience, The Catholic Poetry Room, Academy of the Heart and Mind, and others. He is a 2024 International Fellow of the International Human Rights Arts Movement (IHRAM) for poetry.