Parts of the poem are sung to the song of the title. And the whole poem is based on the song's rhythm. If you sing the small singing parts it is more fun and more will come to you.
(Sing) You must walk that lonesome valley You have to walk it by yourself (Speak) The valley of longing The valley of regret The valley of despair The valley of broken childhood But you can be held. (Sing) You have to walk it by yourself (Speak)The valley of broken dreams The valley of broken love The valley of gratitude The valley of patience The valley of waiting The valley of opportunity (Sing) For nobody else (Speak) Can walk it for you But you can be held The valley of darkness The valley of silence The valley of light. The valley of forgotten love. The valley of plenitude. The valley of perpetual longing... (sing) For nobody else can walk it for you... (speak) And you walk on your hands and knees You walk running all the while You walk whistling through your mouth You walk slipping through the cracks You walk crashing about slogging, stumbling, breezing through... (sing) You walk it by yourself. (speak) And you shall be filled. You shall be filled. (sing) Because we... (speak) We walk it hand in hand step by step and when we walk it Step by step, we go hand in hand in the darkness and in the light and if we glance when we glance to the side to the front to the back we will find we are not alone. Two by two we are not alone. Three by three we are not alone. to the side, on and on, we'll see we actually walk together we walk together. though often it doesn't seem like together we gotta see through our heart-- which is never direct which is never straightforward which is never as it seems, but then it is.
But you gotta (sing)walk it by yourself, For nobody else Can walk it for you... (speak) The walk adds The walk contributes Our knees get skinned Our heads get bumped Our sides split Our throats get lumped Our feet get tickled Our skin gets parched Our lips get kissed. Our stomachs get filled and then emptied again Our thirst gets slacked Our fingers reach and grab Our minds get bored Our patience gets sore, split, excited, worn out, ramshackeled, evanescent, rewarded, discouraged, enervated, redundant.
And we shall be filled (sing) But we must walk it by ourself (speak) and together we walk together we walk to find ourselves out to fill ourselves out to find the spring in our step the love behind the door the footloose and fancy free the mooring for our heart-- around the bend beneath the waters on top of the highest peak we walk it by ourself (sing) for nobody else can walk it for you... that lonesome valley (speak) we walk in the same step the same moment, at the same time we just can't see it but we are held we are held (sing) you have to walk it by yourself. (speak) we build ourself in that valley we find our sisterhood in that valley our brotherhood our familyhood our nationhood our worldhood our neighborhood we find peace in that valley our hearts are healed in that valley we continue there in that valley (sing)no where else. (speak) to walk is to lay down the tread of our life. (sing) in that valley we must walk we must walk (speak) we walk, in the valley of our heart the valley of our pain the valley of our love the valley of life.
I realized this poem could be a "participatory" poem. You could easily add your own lines depending on what you are wrestling with at a given moment. That's what the poem is inviting you to do. And it's easy because the rhythms in this song are very forgiving.