I. Pupils: a Chiasm
The tunnel with light at both ends:
The joy of and the fear of
Looking into it honestly
And saying just what you mean,
A sometimes-shuttered window, yawning
Often in the dark, tightening in brightness,
A circle, a space,
The soul of a face,
A student.
A student.
The soul of a face,
A circle, a space,
Often in the dark, tightening in brightness,
A sometimes-shuttered window, yawning
And saying just what you mean,
Looking into it honestly,
The joy of and the fear of
The tunnel with light at both ends.
II. Dark Ages
The young pagans band
around the picnic table and scrawl
inky runes into their hands
with cheap pens. Around them,
the world falls, and wonders if
they will learn to rebuild it.
Betsy K. Brown teaches and chairs the humanities program at Cicero Preparatory Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona. A graduate of Seattle Pacific University’s MFA in Creative Writing program, with a focus on creative nonfiction, Betsy loves to share the goodness of words and stories with young people amid the beauty of the American Southwest.
Image: Nicholas Roerich, Star of the Hero, tempera on canvas, 1936, Nicholas Roerich Museum (New York City, NY)
