Holy Men

Compliments to Blind Melon for the inspiration. "Let me find my own way."

In a close-minded world

There is a hill. Blades

Of grass slice into

An eggplant sky, drawing

Amber stains to run over

The edges.

The wind runs its fingers

Through the land’s pointed

Hair, whispering quips,

So that the trees bend

In to hear before they

Sway away to share

With the river, whose azure

Face winks at the stars above.

They’re ready, and the forest

Opens wide to embrace

The waiting children, banned

From the safety inside stone-cold

Sanctuaries of civilization,

Thrown into the warm

Welcome of the nearby grove.

If you’d be brave enough

To wade out into the ocean

Of the unknown world,

You may be gifted a glimpse

From the shadows,

The sight of those children

Dancing atop that hill,

Now claimed as a grassy

Palisade echoing with laughter

Of lives passed, wise beyond

Their years under their forest

God’s watchful eye.

Reviews

[Clockwork]

This brings back memories from American lit with Sarracino last semester when we talked about the transcendentalists. I think the sentiment of this piece would fit pretty well alongside passages from "Nature” by Emerson.

I especially like the lines

“If you’d be brave enough
To wade out into the ocean
Of the unknown world,
You may be gifted a glimpse
From the shadows,"

On top of those things, I really like the images that you have crafted here. The way you described the hill and the sky in the first stanza was especially striking.
The personification of the wind in the third stanza was a nice touch as well.

All of those things really helped deliver the message of spiritual exploration through nature. It re-enforced the idea that somewhere out past all of our knowledge, and the traditions of established religions, there are truths yet to be discovered.