Shoes

When my leather shoes walk through the streets

Seeing the market of their fresh old meats
Glistening above are lights from buildings
In this cycle my heart yearns for meanings

Disillusion has led me off the grid

Peers dismayed and exclaimed, “Heaven forbid!”
The people who only know my façade
Denounce my leave for the lands of my God

The air was hazy and none could be seen

Yet the mist around me was most serene
My hut built from bamboo I now enter
My brown shoes show an awful pretender

As I toil the brown land and place a seed

I ponder the new life I will proceed
To be with animals that mock me not
Euphoria that cannot be merely bought

Now I walk with my boots along dirt roads

I see on the stalls freshly butchered loads
Up above is nothing but the moonlight
 Buildings switched with mountains and nature’s might

Each wind that passes through my rattan hat

Reminds me of a life that needs not a mat
To live with dirt and what is meant to be
The country has blessed me with clarity

Content of the Poem

The poem “Shoes” begins with a bleak representation of the typical urban
life. The majority of city workers especially those in office jobs wear leathers
shoes and often walk along the city streets for various purposes. While it is cut, the
market referred in the second line of the first stanza must be a supermarket where
processed foods marketed as fresh are sold. At night, the lights emitted are
frequently from buildings due to overtime work and the monotony of city life
experienced by many force the speaker to search for the meaning to be alive.
While the speaker prepares to leave for the countryside, there is judgement
on the decision as our present culture has glorified the city life as one of “culture”
and development. Those that only know the surface of the person are quick to
judge despite having limited knowledge on the logic behind the decision.
As the speaker arrives at the countryside in the early morning as described as
hazy and cloudy mist, he feels a strange sensation of peace, thus beginning the
theme of a pastoral poem of the composition. He enters the bahay-kubo but the
shoes he wears makes him look ridiculous and inexperienced. This marks his new
life and the relatively welcoming presence he has felt, showing his optimism and
commitment to adjust and find meaning in this new place.
While working in the fields, he reflects and ponder on his decision. Despite
making a clear decision to continue with this life, there still lingers a hint of doubt,
portraying the struggle of adjusting to a new environment. Then, he recalls his
experience with animals. Despite them being lesser beings and not as capable as
humans, they do not judge his actions and accept him for who he is, something that
not even money cannot buy.
 After a certain period of time, he now walks with boots instead of the leather
shoes he once wore during his time in the city and his first arrival into the country.
On the market stalls he now sees truly fresh meat and not the processed dishes in
the city. At night, the moonlight towers over the lands and the tall structures are
not buildings but mountains along with the natural forces of the Earth.
The last paragraph shows him fully integrated and enjoying the rural
lifestyle. He needs not a mat that would have been a staple material back in urban
areas. It reminds him that it is fine to live with the dirt that has always been here
and to not be scared of it. Lastly, his experience has changed and gave him the
meaning he was yearning for in the first stanza.

Theme
The title “Shoes” seeks to portray the difference in the lives the speaker had
in the urban and rural one. The shoes he wore was first mentioned in the first
stanza to show how engrained he is in the city life. It was again mentioned in the
third stanza as he began to start adjusting and transitioning to the rural life. In the
fifth stanza, it is replaced with boots, showing he has discarded or put away the
shoes (urban life) aside in favor of the more practical footwear. The footwear or
broadly shoes he wore represent the different environments of his life.
In the poem, contrast is also found in different stanzas. The first and fifth
stanza is the most obvious as it explicitly contrast the footwear and the meat found
in the city and province. The second show of it is in the second and fourth stanzas.
In the second stanza, the people around the speaker are described to be quick to
judge while the lesser animals are the opposite, neither mocking nor denouncing
the speaker.
The overall theme of the poem is to portray the value of the countryside
lifestyle. Most of the qualities of the urban life in the poem are negative and
detrimental to the person while the rural one serves the soul of the speaker. It is
also the catalyst for finding meaning in his life of which was perpetuated by his
previous lifestyle. This shows the qualities of a pastoral poem, that romanticizing
the provincial life even if there are some unfavorable conditions.