---
description: A meditation poem about a batter's walk back to the dugout after striking out, and how the way we carry a moment shapes the one who meets the next.
title: The Walk Back
---

[Still Lantern](https://www.stilllantern.com/)

[About](https://www.stilllantern.com/about) [Contact](mailto:roger.katona@gmail.com)

# The Walk Back

A meditation poem about a batter's walk back to the dugout after striking out, and how the way we carry a moment shapes the one who meets the next.

He steps in, and the whole park leans toward him.  
Nothing he does now is new.  
The swing was made in empty cages,  
on mornings no one watched,  
and it arrives the way water arrives  
at the bottom of a hill.

He cannot decide, standing here,  
to be a calmer man,  
any more than he could decide  
on stronger wrists between pitches.  
Whoever stands in the box  
was built before today.

The ball comes.  
He swings through air.

This is where I used to stop watching.

But look at him turning,  
the long walk to the dugout,  
the bat still in his hand.  
There is the strikeout,  
which is only a strikeout,  
and there is everything  
a mind could pile on top of it.

He lets it be one thing.  
He carries it the way you'd carry  
a full cup across a room,  
level, unhurried,  
and sets it down on the bench.

Because the walk is also the work.  
Each step is making  
the one who will stand in again,  
in the sixth, in the ninth,  
tomorrow.

The handle of the bat is worn  
where his hands have always held it.  
He couldn't tell you which day did that.  
He only knows the grooves are there,  
and that his fingers find them.

He sits.  
The game goes on without a verdict.  
Somewhere down the bench  
a man picks up his helmet  
and walks out into the light.

If you’d prefer to read this offline, you can download a PDF version below.

Written and shared by Roger Katona

Contact: [roger.katona@gmail.com](mailto:roger.katona@gmail.com)

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