freedom

Essays from an Adventure, Part 6: Free and Unafraid

Submitted by Mary on Fri, 05/11/2018 - 14:20

I might have been a great physicist, had I been given a brain that didn’t commence automatic emergency shutdown procedures at the first sign of anything more complex than simple multiplication.
As it is, my fate has limited me to having an enormous respect for the work that physicists do, and a passionate fascination with their field of study. Hence, I do have a rudimentary understanding of physics in a rather instinctual way, even though I couldn’t explain the mathematical technicalities if my life depended on it.

small adventures

Submitted by E on Fri, 09/22/2017 - 02:59

1. summer

I didn’t expect my first
slice of independence to mean
a futon bed & eating peanut butter and jelly
for
every
meal

who didn’t teach me to make chicken?

I didn’t expect to become
a grandma overnight
everyone is ready to party and
my bedtime is 11pm

but
I like it
my cozy little
3-windowed bedroom
I have adjusted to
my rock hard futon
and I may still
have not unpacked
but I am good
where I am

2. committed

Soldier of God

Submitted by Madalyn Clare on Tue, 07/04/2017 - 07:20

Captain Aurelius Cassian held his breath. He prayed to Juno for a son for months after he was told of the pregnancy, and he sent incense to Jupiter for a princely fellow, Venus and Cupid for a boy of comely appearance, and Mars for a suitable warrior of Rome. He begged the gods for an heir.
Now, he waited for the result of his prayers.

Since The Day You Left XVII: Since The Day You Left I Counted

Submitted by Madalyn Clare on Tue, 12/13/2016 - 04:12

Wynne made it to the barracks of the keep. Warrior women jogged to and from the extensive and solid establishment. Marching girls with blonde braids swaying on their backs passed by her, their blue eyes gazing on her. They whispered behind their small, pale hands in the lilting yet hard language of Skuld. Wynne smiled and nodded to the squadron, who smirked shyly and went on their way.
She knocked on the barrack door, and a lady dressed in a soft buckskin tunic and palla answered.
“Úda’lugha?” she asked plainly.
“Gwceff,” answered Wynne as she entered.

Since The Day You Left XVI: Alpene

Submitted by Madalyn Clare on Sat, 12/10/2016 - 19:35

Nóe ran down the hall.
He remembered last night as if it were a second ago. Every memory was vibrant as if it had just happened. Every single word, action, and gesture was crystal clear in his mind.
“Your brother is becoming quite destructive,” mused Lord Crofton, carelessly strolling across his throne room. “It’s become… peeving. And his dog, that mangy, rabid thing… that is a lot to take care of.” He stopped mid-step, then turned to Nóe. “Has he been this way for long?”

Since The Day You Left XII: Slim Chances

Submitted by Madalyn Clare on Sun, 11/13/2016 - 16:57

Chance looked down at his hands. They were weathered and well-used before he woke up in the care of the Al-Izzes - who, at the time, also had to cross the border to Destrea to escape the cruelty in Úda - so there wasn’t a way he could be an aristocrat. No, Caislín was dead wrong about him.
“Nevertheless,” he mumbled to himself, now locked in a jail cell until the morning. “Sleep is what I need.”

Mountains

Submitted by Sarah Liz on Sat, 02/20/2016 - 16:28

Sometimes my brain has run out of dreams
I’m useless, spent, worn out
I must have been a big mistake
My life—an empty tale.
Living on the edge of a mountain
It looks too dark to move
The goals I fancied as my dreams
Lie chained on the other side.
I cannot free them, let them fly
This mountain blocks my way
It darkens the path before, behind
Hopelessness closes in.
Dreams have spilled out through the holes
In the pottery of my life
I’m a broken vessel—what can I do

God Was There

Submitted by Damaris Ann on Wed, 01/27/2016 - 03:46

Screams wrenched the atmosphere.
When the Twins crushed and killed it was called unfair.
Was it "them" or us? Questions everywhere.
All I know is God was there.

A mighty tornado went twisting down;
Homes demolished in many a town.
Death allowed to reap what was sown.
I know He was there, they were not alone.

Our soldiers give their lives in brave fight.
We let our trust take a cowardly flight.
We say goodby yet cry, distraught, in fright.
We forget they are held in the hand of His might.