Fifteen-Minute Spill
Deep in the woods there is a cliff,
A cliff surrounded by clouds.
A black and menacing cliff it is,
With needles of rock at its base.
A child stands there looking, and what does he see,
The faint outline of the sun emerging from the mist.
In a clear voice that only he can hear,
The landscape talks to him, speaks to him, sings to him.
A message for eternity,
Of youth and posterity.
The nature experiment is a challenge for all of us to experience nature and the outside world in tee way that Emerson would want. The way I came upon my experiment was in a way a giant cosmic accident. It happened last Friday night, the fifth of December after the semi-final game of CIF for my football team. After we had won and our captain had led us in an adrenaline inducing, heart pounding chant, I was exhausted and looking forward to getting out of my dirty football uniform and jumping into bed for some well deserved sleep. I happened to be the last one off the field on the way to the locker room, and I was about in the middle of the field when it hit me. I wasn't planning on doing my experiment then nor did I realize that it was my experiment until the next day. I was about where the left hash marks meet the fifty yard line when I looked up at the lights and realized that this field, or any field, is my escape to nature. I don't have the time to go out to the deep forest nor the mental willpower to sit still and serenly for any length of time, but I do get the opportunity to go out into the football field almost every day for six months out of the year. Emerson said that nature is a place where you are isolated from anything that you would be comfortable with. That feat is nearly impossible for anyone, but the football field is as close as I can get. I enjoyed a zenlike experience if you will for just a short period of time that night. This experiment is probably very different from most other people's, but the field, the pitch, the turf, that is my environment and my connection to nature.
2 comments:
I would not have thought of the football field as a connection to nature until I read this. I really liked this because while reading it, I found a way to connect. Most of us often do not have the time to completley escape and connect with nature. So for many of us, it is simply a place to disconnect from everything around us and truly embrace ourselves.
I would think many athletes, or others with a passion, found their comfort at the home of their passion. Whether it be on the field, dance studio, or wherever it may be. I can remember myself playing lacrosse, on a Saturday morning, when the dew is still on the grass... To me its the one moment where everything seems to clear away. School, homework, friends. One can find their focus in Nature, but when being surrounded in Nature is not an option, one must seperate themselves as best as they can.
Well done.
Not only was your poem that you wrote and read in class really good... your post was too. Like Sophia said, I wouldn't have automatically assumed a field could have been your escape, until you said it. My escape is sports related as well so I completely understood your point. Whereas mine is skiing, with the snow and mountains as my scenery, yours was football. And I really liked how simple yet effective this was for you to comprehend. This giant cosmic accident must have made you love that field even more (because you have Emerson's blessing indubitably).
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