A reflective walk turns into a journey inside, where questions, unfinished thoughts, and quiet hope exist together.
The poem examines the challenge of not yet reaching a goal—and the strength required to keep moving forward.
# A Long Way to Go #
He is walking,
but his thoughts are running.
No music swelling,
no grand arrival—
just the quiet scuff of shoes
against an undulating road.
The dog knows more than he does.
It pulls, pauses, insists—
alive in a way
he is still learning to be.
Green everywhere.
Too much to hold.
As if the world is saying,
“Grab it before the journey ends,”
but he has nowhere to place it.
In his pockets:
half-ideas,
creased and worn,
names without endings,
fires that never caught.
The old man inside him
still believes in something louder,
brighter—
something undeniable.
But this—
this long stretch of the unknown—
keeps going.
“Still have a long way to go.”
It doesn’t sting.
Not quite.
It simply stays.
And maybe truth,
plain and unadorned,
is the first real thing
he’s managed to carry.
Step after step,
mile after mile—
he holds onto it now,
this quiet knowing:
he is not there yet,
but he is going.
(Vijay Verma)
www.retiredkalam.com
Categories: kavita
Retiredकलम 
Verma ji, this poem walks with the reader long after the last line. The way you’ve held space for the unfinished, the quiet scuff of shoes, the dog that knows more—it’s achingly honest and deeply kind. That closing image, “he is not there yet, but he is going,” lands like a soft hand on the shoulder. Thank you for this gentle, truthful piece.
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Thank you so much for this deeply thoughtful reflection. ✨
Your words touched me just as deeply as the poem itself may have touched you.
I’m especially moved that the quietness and incompleteness of the piece stayed with you — because sometimes life itself moves that way: slowly, imperfectly, but still forward. Your reading of the closing line was incredibly generous and perceptive.
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