Welcome to Poetry Friday. If you visit this blog regularly you might have caught on to how much I love my morning walks, I live in a beautiful part of Australia, with options to walk in bushy and, parks, on the beach, around an inlet and more.

This week I have been driving my son to exams most morning, so instead of walking close to home, I have stopped on the way home and walked in some different locations. One of these was a place called Big Swamp, about ten minutes away. It’s a big wetland, which is actually rehabilitated land on what was once the town rubbish dump. Now it is teeming with wildlife, and the number of ducks, swans, swamp hens and other birds is just fabulous.

There is a path that goes right around the outside of the swamp, but my favourite path branches off that and heads through paperbark trees, and scrub and rushes, and leads to a boardwalk and an observation hut for bird watchers. I was delighted to have this path to myself, and really felt like I was on an adventure.

My meandering reminded me of a poem by Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, who wrote of a path that leads nowhere. Her countryside was quite different from mine, but the sentiment is one I can really relate to.

The Path That Leads Nowhere

There’s a path that leads to Nowhere

In a meadow that I know,

Where an inland island rises

And the stream is still and slow;

There it wanders under willows,

And beneath the silver green

Of the birches’ silent shadows

Where the early violets lean.

Other pathways lead to Somewhere,

But the one I love so well

Has no end and no beginning—

Just the beauty of the dell…

You can read the rest of the poem here, and for more poetry goodness, check out the Poetry Friday roundup which is being hosted today by Heidi  at My Juicy Little Universe.

PS – Ducklings! I counted 19. Have a great week.