Final Curve

When you turn the corner
And you run into yourself
Then you know that you have turned
All the corners that are left

Langston Hughes poet and novelist, was born on 1 February 1902 in Joplin, Missouri.

The meaning of this short poem is twofold, in my opinion.
1 In our lives we all look for changes when we want to avoid our own demons but in the end, we will have to deal with ourselves again-
2 In a self- discovery journey, when we meet ourselves again after the last corner, this means that we have reached our goal.

What do you think?

La curva finale

Quando giri l’angolo
e ti imbatti in te stesso
allora sai che hai svoltato
tutti gli angoli rimasti.

Il significato di questa breve poesia è duplice, secondo me.
1 Nella nostra vita cerchiamo tutti cambiamenti quando vogliamo evitare i nostri demoni ma alla fine dovremo affrontare di nuovo noi stessi.
2 In un viaggio alla scoperta di sé, quando incontriamo noi stessi, dopo l’ultima curva, significa che abbiamo raggiunto la nostra meta.

Qual è la vostra opinione?

Image – Wikimedia Commons: L. Hughes in 1902

65 thoughts on “Final Curve”

  5. molto bella e interessante sia la poesia che la tua duplice interpretazione, che mi vede d’accordo anche se credo che quanto finalmente ci troviamo non siamo veramente arrivati alla meta, ma forse inizia finalmente il vero viaggio, questa volta senza più angoli da svoltare ^_^
    Un abbraccio carissima 😘

    Liked by 3 people

  6. Molto interessante credo che la vita in sé sia dentro e fuori di noi dunque occorre ispezionare a fondo tutti i lati se desideriamo vivere e non morire un pezzetto ogni giorno

    Liked by 4 people

  9. Beautiful lines and interesting warm comments. What about a play upon words? You turned all the corners left, but not the corners to the right. It’s turning in the same direction that brings you back (360°) to yourself… Maybe exploring the world means that you take (dare to take) the right turn now and then…?

    Liked by 6 people

  10. lo specchio puo essere un momento di “self-reflection” prima di ricominciare il viaggio e da qualche parte prendere la svolta a destra (the right turn)

    Liked by 3 people

      1. Yes wherever there is good mentioned there must be evil mentioned also unfortunately we are amongst evil this Earth is referred to as the devil’s footstool and my goodness, I am in America you can’t drive on the road without meeting one devil or another you certainly can’t walk down the streets as you could 10 years ago without meeting one loony or another we have a columnist here, dear Abby that once said, drive your car on the road as if the other driver was either high on drugs high on alcohol or totally mentally unstable . no matter how badly you want to feel positive and think only the good you must also see the bad !

        Liked by 2 people

    2. The reference to T.S. Eliot is indeed an interesting one. In Little Gidding (Four Quarters) he wrote the well known lines
      “We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.” It brings me to the following idea. The coming back to the starting point par excellence (oneself) in both poems could be regarded as the point where we establish our relationship to whatever we explored, the point that we convey (re-tollere,-latus) the meaning of that explored item/creature to ourselves. In this respect and for that explored element we then have reached our goal and the title The Final Curve can be accounted for.

      Liked by 3 people

      2. Thank you for your interesting idea. I think we (ok, not all of us but someone) never completely reach our goals so ‘In my beginning is my end’ (‘East Coker’).
        I’d like to offer your attention a musical palindrome by Guillaume de Machaut ‘Ma fin est mon commencement’: https://youtu.be/dcfPr4IN2MM

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Thank you very much: I found it wonderful and amazing
        PS I need to ask you something: where can iI find your blog (if you have one)?
        The message from WordPress reads “flumenhabitans.wordpress.com is no longer available.
        The authors have deleted this site.”

        Liked by 1 person

  17. per me è come voler dire che alla fine quando ti cerchi e ti riconosci è perchè hai vagliato ogni tua predisposizione, ogni tua mancanza, ogni tua positività, ogni tua negatività….sei alloscoperto e non puoi più barare con te stesso. ogni angolo è la parte nascosta di noi che non vorremmo vedere.

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  18. I wonder if Richard Ashcroft had this on his mind when he wrote “Lucky Man.”

    “But how many corners do I have to turn?
    How many times do I have to learn
    All the love I have is in my mind? …”

    Liked by 4 people

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