Student Section

When I first met Grief he was angry at me, and I at him. We screamed nonsense at each other for days, weeks, until my voice gave out. Then he began to claw at my chest and my eyes and my throat. He swallowed me whole and ripped me to pieces. My fingers were bloodied and my joints displaced. He was relentless, pointing and laughing and jeering, “GONE. GONE. GONE.” I ran from him, yet he always pursued. He terrorized my house, lurking in every corner. Corners that soon became untouched and dusty in an effort to avoid him. At some point, slowly and all at once I convinced him to grant me a bit of distance, just outside the walls.

He lingered outside, peering through the windows and beating on the doors and taunting me from the porch as I came and went. He became a wallflower. A terrible thing, but a terrible thing I knew. I almost never noticed the thumping on the walls or the shadow on the sidewalk. I did my best to ignore him and he was courteous enough to turn his taunts into whispers. One day I came home to him sitting on the porch swing, and he waved. He didn’t spit or yell or point or laugh. It was a short wave with the ghost of a smile, a shaving off an olive branch. Something possessed me to invite Grief in and offer him tea. There we sat, Grief and I, drinking jasmine green and peeling oranges in silence. There was an uncomfortable, unfamiliar kindness in his eyes.

So it began; the tea and the silence took the place of the screaming and the malice. Silent sitting turned into dusting off the corners of my home and my heart that Grief forced me to abandon. He helped me get boxes off the shelves I couldn’t reach and sort pictures into piles. He watched reverently as I read letters and hugged sweaters close to my chest. At my kitchen table I told Grief my name, and the names of the people who brought him to me, and he became my friend. He told me stories of all those he has tormented and befriended. Now he keeps me company often; we play blackjack and he lets me win. Sometimes he brings his brothers, Love and Rage, and we all sit together. I cry. They wait. I’d like to think they enjoy my presence as much as I’ve grown to enjoy theirs. Because somehow the same Grief that used to jeer and claw and rip and ruin now holds my hand. He takes too much milk and sugar in his tea and he cheats at cards; but he holds my hand and does not scoff at my tears. Grief is a better friend than enemy, and I’m glad I invited him in.

It's all about the precedent 
So how can we ignore the president 
When his crimes are clearly evident 
They treat us as irrelevant 
Like we're barely even sentient 
And claim they're the ones who are heaven sent 
While parading in the devil's skin
We let Washington 
Become the heart of sin 
By voting in
Those of Satan's kin
Who sacrifice the hearts of men 
For a buck to spend
While we descend 
Into sediment 
It's time to address the elephant 
It's not about our pigment 
Or anything that might make us different 
It's about those whose wealth seems infinite 
Yet they only invest in their personal regiment 
They play God but that's irrelevant 
Because death is not something you can circumvent 
And a god is nothing to a million men 
Who fight with the spirit of rebellion!

The thought never entered my mind,
What would happen if things went wrong.
I thought we would be fine,
Never hearing the Last note of that song.

But after about two months it came,
The answer to the question we avoided for a year.
I thought seeing you, everything would be the same
But it wasn’t even close, I fear

It snuck up on us like the End of a song,
We didn’t know it was over until it was Done.
And suddenly we weren’t talking anymore,
Years of friendship had come and Gone.

Looking back, I don’t regret a thing,
And telling you this now might be a waste.
I hate how you’ve pulled me along on a string,
So now I'm giving you a taste

Of your own medicine in which you gave to me.
And every word I've said has been true.
So don't keep telling me that people change,
Especially when people was You.

I guess this is Goodbye,
After reading this you'll never give me another chance.
But I was never gonna try again,
So thank you in advance

For showing me what I don't want in a Friend,
And making me a better person.
So please forgive me, it's true you see
You were my best friend - until you weren’t.

Water gently brushed the seashore before descending back into the vast ocean. The horizon endless as the blue matched perfectly, making the horizon seem practically extinct and the world an endless expansion. The only thing separating water and sky were the white fluffy clouds sneaking across the display as if they were never meant to appear. The brightest sun sang its goodbye as it traveled toward the horizon. The sky followed, seemingly melting itself to shades of orange and red. The clouds blushed at the display, joining in with their bright shades of pink. Blue, but a distant memory in the sky, remained in the calm ocean below as the symphony of colors swirled through the sky. As the sun becomes a sliver in the sky, the clouds split apart, darkening with the once vibrant display. Just as the sun vanishes beneath the horizon, a faint flash of green signals the end of light. The water creeps higher, most of the sand covered by the tide. As the sky darkens, small stars begin to splatter the sky with their elegance. Across from the sun, a beautiful crescent shaped moon began glimmering in the sky with its glory. The display remains through time, the sky’s masterpiece among a world of art and song.

Art by Trevor Nichols, Graduating Senior, Cumberland University

Art by Trevor Nichols, Graduating Senior