Wandering Wonderer
Lost in the desert
Wandering through the trials
And endless tribulations
As the sun melts away
Into another lifeless night
Faltering faith
This is my sentence
For a life no different
From that which I was saved
When will this end?
I shake my hand
At the man in the sky
Drowning in stars and sand
Pull me up or hold me down
Why is this my life?
Wandering wonderer
I know you're ready to give up
You're asking all the questions
But not accepting the answers
Just within your grasp
A day will come
When the trials end
And tribulations cease
But until then...
I'm not sure why, but I was obsessed with Bible stories about Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years. In my youthful certainty, I believed that I could make different decisions and avoid the 40-year sentence. But that's not how life works. The desert catches up with you when you least expect it.
The original poem was a mashup of several ideas: wandering in the desert as a punishment, hypocrisy in the church, and imagining a life on the other side of struggle. There were some good images and ideas, but the poem as a whole needed to be reworked. So, I chose to focus on the desert as a form of punishment, but also as a place of wonder just beyond reach.
Newsletter Notes:
Today's sonic soundtrack is The Astonishing by Dream Theater.
The Midjourney prompt for today's artwork: desert at night, storm, lightning, cinematic lighting --ar 16:9.
I set "Wandering Wonderer" in Fright Watch, a frightful font by Remedy667, "The Best Little Shop of Horror Fonts In Town."
I just dropped a new blog post called Deconstructing Labels, which explores the labels we are given as children and how they don't serve us well later in life.