Reflections on Adventure

(Inspired by The Lord of the Rings and The Wingfeather Saga.)

You say you wish it never happened.

You say that you regret with shame

All the times you wished and longed for

Life beyond peaceful mundane.

Adventure was not what you’d expected.

You weren’t prepared for this woe and pain.

Now you plead that rays of sunshine

Cleave the blinding sheet of rain.

Oh, how I wish that I could trust you

And take you at your warning word,

But my mind’s fingers cling most fiercely 

To the hope that I have heard.

For you say also change you would not

Evoke upon your experienced life,

For love’s strong ties were made but stronger

When strained within the Straights of Strife.

Assailing fires refined the silver.

More precious light was in the night. 

Oh, that I could but seize the silver

Without the sorrow of the fight!

But so it is with every struggle,

The seed must die to bring new gain.

Each sacrifice leaves a precious hollow,

Yet the life of ease empties−just the same,

But not the same.

One thing I grasp in my confusion−

Perhaps the battle is misjudged.

The test of will, the strenuous proving

Lies beyond the mire and sludge.

It hides within the heart most changing,

Never constant or content,

Always reaching for wild future,

Or else desiring times that went.

To burn with all that is within me,

To strike new flames wherever I glow,

To shine not only in the trial,

But in the moments quiet and slow.

My desire of earnest savor 

Is to fully taste of joy,

Knowing that my cherished Savior

Has a purpose:

Building

Bold

&

Beautiful

A city of light

That neither the perilous sword,

Nor the silent ordinary

Can destroy!