The Motivation for the Pilgrimage

The Motivation for the Pilgrimage

This poem is by Pam Donohue, the chief organizer of the UK SoF conference until her sudden death on 3 May 1999. She will be much missed, but her poems remain as a light for all our paths

Give me in life one fierce desire.

One kite to follow over endless hills,

One sun to blaze my road which lies before

And leave bright shadows where I pass;

One joy to lie within

The tiny space of infinite size,

One thing to gather all the rest

Into cohesion, making noble sentence

Of the many words, one drama

Of the many scenes; one friend,

One loved one in the seeming crowd

One royal passion to outstay the rest.

There's no true choice of what that passion be,

For what it will appear is mere disguise

For Europe, language, song, astronomy,

The perfect photograph, blue poppies,

The nine symphonies of Bruckner,

Works of Shakespeare or elected silence

Show but enthusiasm the god inside

The manifest unmanifest shown forth

In every glowing hue of mankind's rainbow bonds.