This prose poetry piece was inspired by Alexander Solzhenitsyn's poem A Storm in the Mountains. I wrote about an experience I had in Alaska after being stranded on an glacial island after a mountaineering trip. Was I happy for human civilization when I got back home. Never had I appreciated simple things in life like...food, plumbing, and a hot shower.
Captive
We were packed, and told we would be eating dinner with our families by this evening. We played on the beach where a shaft of sunlight touched the shore. The afternoon glow was orange and inviting as it combed its warmth through the grass. Our faces were turned inward at each other on our little island, our smiles unaware of the darkness that began swirl around the speck of land. The growl that met our ears fooled us as our eyes searched for a boat among the sapphire waters that had been churned navy. Thunder was heard in the distance, crouched in the dark billowing clouds. The light that had adorned the island in sweet oblivion had now vanished.
It seemed as if nature had lured us here with a lie of tame beauty, and now had us captive to demonstrate that we too were to bow at her every whim just as the mice, eagles and grizzlies do. I stand with my knees locked and my lower jaw trembling, my clothes hang to my skin. Our eyes are turned up at the skies, ever hopeful for the plane to come. I think to myself that nature must be flattered to think that we are praying on her behalf, her ego soaring. I felt her smirk, feeling like a god as the rain cascades down harder against out backs, the glacial wind numbing our hands and minds. She watched as doubt soaked into our minds and we retreat into the shelter of the green spiny fronds of looming pine trees. Our heads were low, staring at the cold rocks beneath our boots. Nature seemed to pity us as the murky sky briefly opened, sending our mechanical savior to the island. She doesn’t seem to mind us leaving now that we have been humbled in her presence. We now fly away, the wings teetering in the wind like a clumsy sparrow above massive waves that pound the shore and booming clouds before she changes her mind. At last, we soar over a crown of mountain peaks engraved in crystal and diamond.
It seemed as if nature had lured us here with a lie of tame beauty, and now had us captive to demonstrate that we too were to bow at her every whim just as the mice, eagles and grizzlies do. I stand with my knees locked and my lower jaw trembling, my clothes hang to my skin. Our eyes are turned up at the skies, ever hopeful for the plane to come. I think to myself that nature must be flattered to think that we are praying on her behalf, her ego soaring. I felt her smirk, feeling like a god as the rain cascades down harder against out backs, the glacial wind numbing our hands and minds. She watched as doubt soaked into our minds and we retreat into the shelter of the green spiny fronds of looming pine trees. Our heads were low, staring at the cold rocks beneath our boots. Nature seemed to pity us as the murky sky briefly opened, sending our mechanical savior to the island. She doesn’t seem to mind us leaving now that we have been humbled in her presence. We now fly away, the wings teetering in the wind like a clumsy sparrow above massive waves that pound the shore and booming clouds before she changes her mind. At last, we soar over a crown of mountain peaks engraved in crystal and diamond.
