Poetry
"Poetry is when emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words."
Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Come Sit in Sanctuary In January of 2015, images of horrific violence filled the internet and all forms of social media. The terrorist group ISIS was publicizing its actions, and the world responded with anger, fear, and a general sense of perplexity about if and how to counter these attacks.
However, the beginning of a new year also held the promise of renewal and growth and life despite all the hardship. Suffering and joy come to everyone in varying portions and at different times, and our lives are shaped by how we react to the circumstances around us. "Come Sit in Sanctuary" is a call to those caught up in the stress and worries of life to take time to pause, reflect, and respond to the tragedies in our world in a humble and helpful manner. It was awarded the House of Poetry Prize at the Student Literary Contest at Baylor's 2015 Beall Poetry Festival, judged by poet Valzhyna Mort. Come Sit in Sanctuary
Come sit in sanctuary, all you fearfully hurried people, Come sit in sanctuary, and be still. The world is trembling with horrors, with souls violent and mistaken; The world is trembling with honest joy. Come sit in sanctuary, breathe in your neighbors’ breath, and shed wanted tears. Come sit in sanctuary, from your neighbors ask forgiveness, and offer them the same. The world is trembling with emptiness, with troubling questions unresolved; The world is trembling with genuine love. Come sit in sanctuary, then return to the trembling world; Come sit in sanctuary, then return to give your peace. |
Anticipation and Reprieve The professor of my American Literature course at Baylor focused our readings on Americans' interactions with and perspectives of nature in literature. Along with the works of Thoreau and Hawthorne, we were assigned to read James Fenimore Cooper's "Eclipse."
In this short writing, Cooper explains his personal interpretation and experience with the eclipse he witnessed in 1806 in his home village near Otsego Lake in New York. The natural phenomenon takes on a mysterious supernatural significance for the townspeople and for Cooper. For one of our major writing assignments we had the opportunity to compose three poems based off of one of the texts we had read in the class. "Anticipation and Reprieve" is the poem I wrote from the perspective of the townspeople as they experienced the rare eclipse. Anticipation and Reprieve
The time is nearing, nearing, nearing, The time so close at hand, When we will cease our mundane labors, When we will see a wonder grand. If our consistent light is vanquished, If our day is cast in night, How can we but doubt the promises, How can we yet trust the light? O, hush and watch the darkness, O, hush and feel the chill, The shadow is now upon us, The shadow subdues the stolid will. Sweet relief, the sun returns! Sweet relief, it is day again! Now we have the grace to remember, Now we have a treasure within. |