Hello again! Some of you have been wondering what I’ve been up to lately. As a college student, I’ve mostly been studying and going to classes. My classes this semester are Philosophy, Studying and Teaching the Bible, Christianity in the Western Culture (we just got done studying Athanasius and St. Augustine :D), Philosophy of Church Music, Ensemble hymn improv, band, oratorio, and violin lessons. (phew!) Most of the music classes all fall on Monday afternoon and night; hence the name “Music Major Monday Madness.”
Because of not having internet in my room (though my rommate does), I have just been e-mailing things to myself, getting on my roommate’s computer, and now putting things onto my blog that way. It’s a little complicated. I hope you enjoy what I’ve been composing lately! Some has been set to music, but nothing has been written down permanently…yet.
This is a poem that I started after band tour to California. We visited Yosemite, the most beautiful national park (in my opinion), and that prompted me to this composition. I have been writing it over the summer and even during this semester, so it has gotten quite long and extravagent. haha
Mountain most lush, so rich and so rare,
Even your rocks are exquisitely fair.
Sequoia trees, daisies, you’d probably agree,
that I must be dreaming—this is reality?
Low yet quite powerful roars catch my ear.
Picking up pace, though without any fear.
No thoughts of time, no meetings at ten,
My only thought, “Will this path never end?”
Higher and higher I climb and I scuffle
Rocks become massive, yet the roar is still muffled.
The ground gets quite damp, though the view remains hidden
Fallen am I face downward, oozing mud most unbidden.
Getting up frustrated at where mud has ill-placed me
Monolithic boulders circling all around me,
Nothing moving but crows to mock me—the mud would too
If it could speak. Oh what shall this poor person do?
Looking straight upward I spy something heavenly
in the midst of this muck and gargoylean misery
Beautiful red wood looking so noble; surely it was sent
to aid in this tragic predicament.
Tactfully a skip and then hurriedly a prayer;
Rope from my backpack soars high in the air.
It tangles itself on a branch not intended;
Nevertheless, my sad case is soon joyously mended.
I sport a long stick up this mucky ravine,
Hoping this worth the mud for faith that’s unseen.
Really I wish for a great creature of power–
Maybe a cyclops or sea beast that sends lions to cower!
Finally I rest on a ledge, small but sturdy.
Shoes, face, and fingers are disgustingly dirty.
The view makes my heart race and then skip a beat
Gallons of moist droplets race near my feet.
No, it’s not raining but even if it had been
No downpour compares to this fine big ben.
Waterfall keeps moving, yet it still stays the same
It likens to our Maker who possesses many a name.
Blessings from our Creator pour out noon, night, and day
Nothing we give Him can help us repay.
We offer up our heart and our soul and our mind,
All of our being, and all of our time.
Waterfalls of grace continue to pour down
Over us who embrace His most glorious crown.
We are called to live by faith; for faith indeed
gains Christ’s pleasure, not any “good” deed.
May we with hearts that are pure and clean hands
Offer up praise to whom praise demands
Being made clean by the Man without sin
Forever together with our Savior we win.
