A few years ago, my father handed me this poem that I’d written back in 1995 for my 10th grade English class. I’d completely forgotten about it. I get a kick out of the lines that my 16 year old self had painstakingly typed, using my sister Peggy’s fancy word processor. It doesn’t quite have a steady rhythm to it, and I think I could have done a lot better if I’d taken my time (As with all of my homework assignments back then). But I do remember being excited about the assignment and wanting Mrs. Adams to read this masterpiece to the classroom aloud. Anonymously of course… but I wanted her to read it!
Today I thought I’d take another go at the assignment. I mean, sure I got an 89% on this piece but I thought I could do better. Here’s how the 2020 version of this piece reads. Revision B if you will:
I’m setting out into the North,
to live among the wild,
Where nature’s pure tranquility,
shall never be defiled.
No hatred lives within those woods,
and home for me will be,
Hewn from log and shaped from stone,
to stand so solemnly.
There I’ll live in peace so free
where anger has no place,
Along the wooded sunlit slope
of a mountain’s western face.
I’ll watch the evening light retreat
as plum and rose skies fade,
within the comfort of my home,
my own two hands had made.
The moon above will light the sky
and though my eyes will close,
I’ll see in dreams my dearest friends
who give my heart repose.
I’ll join the ranks of men alike
who’ve soothed their troubled minds,
And be another Mountain Man
who slept beneath the pines.