Run & Fly

Run & Fly
By Mark Samudre

I am in a place
where the water is alive.
With ripples being blown by a man
In white as bright as light can get.
This wind blows me to an oak tree I used to climb.
With roots stretched deep within the earth,
With height beyond what my eyes can see,
With branches that lift me up
From one
To the other.
I fly
Over greener valleys with no end.
The wind blowing a clearing
In the tall blades of grass.
I choose to run,
Racing with the pastel colors
Of petals of flowers that sing
A sweet, sweet song
As they scurry to keep
Up.
I run till the wind beckons me to fly again,
Carrying me
Towards the choir of people
Where believing has gotten us to
Where we are today.

I'm a naturalist. I feel most at peace and closest to God when I am in nature. I've just recently come to grips with this. So I've been attempting to take time out of my day to just sit outside and soak in as much of the nice weather as I can-which is a reason as to why nature has a continual part in the poem. Lately I've just been thinking about Heaven more. Thoughts like : "I wonder what it's like?" or "Do we get wings or not?" (I seriously think about that quite often) or "Am I truly excited to get there?"...It's kind of a freaky concept if you think about it. One moment you're here and then the next-you're in the eternal. Woah.

I began the (very) rough draft of this poem during my poetry class which was outside by the New River (very scenic in the springtime-I highly recommend going if you haven't yet). The whimsical-like setting in the poem is meant to serve as Heaven. The man in the beginning is God-and the wind he blows is Jesus. The wind is constantly with the character throughout the whole poem, carrying him, lifting him, guiding him. And eventually the speaker of the poem is brought to the angels, where he joins them and sings.