The College Across the Glen

[Chase]

The College Across the Glen
 
By Chase PenNameXX
 
There is a land where both peasants and great houses of power call home
A land where men came for freedom but stayed to hang witches as it was done across the seafoam
A land where rabble rousers started a rebellion against the largest empire that has ruled the Earth
A land that houses the greatest schools of learning against the backdrop of harsh Americana living that Puritans have given birth
It stretches from the white sands of its easternmost islands to the green glens of its westernmost shires
From its ancient capital alit by its sparkling towers to its far-flung villages and their campfires
 
There once was a boy who lived in a shire in the realm’s westernmost hills
The boy’s village was left poor from the abandonment of its once moneyed mills
Poverty drove the villagers closer to the land where they beseeched the fay to quell their fear
The faeries of the woodlands spared the villagers of their hunger by making them into half-deer
With antlers on his head, the boy could graze upon the grass
Yet ridicule soon spread, and the boy sank to the lowest class
 
Across the glen of this downtrodden shire was a town that was home to one of the realm’s greatest schools
It was home to learned folk of great houses who thought of the boy’s village as horned fools
In this town was a rich handsome boy who was the son of the college’s wealthiest professor
The antlered boy was bewitched as the handsome boy became his heart’s possessor
 
On one autumn day the antlered boy admired the rich handsome boy from a hill of orange leaves
The rich boy went to the antlered boy and told him that in love he believes
The antler boy declared he wanted nothing more than for them to be together
The rich boy declared it would be so if they were only of the same feather
 
The antlered boy was determined to do whatever it takes to join the great houses
He would become a learned man and then they could be spouses
He devoted himself to books in the hopes that college could be his promised land
Yet the horned villagers of his shire did not understand
 
In all of the hilltops and glens the poor boy was greeted with mockery
His fellow villagers cut off his antlers and the learned folks of the rich boy’s town looked down on him with snobbery
The poor antlerless boy went to the banks of a clear babbling river
He cried to the fay to see his tears and make his sadness wither
The faery of seasons appeared and told him to not despair
For his grief will one day disappear like the antlers that were once on his hair
 
The poor boy took the fay’s words to mean he shall have his love
He applied to all of the realm’s great schools and prayed for acceptance to the gods above
His devotion to his studies paid off as he received many acceptance letters
Yet his emotion muddied as all of them were expensive and he could not find debtors
 
Then one day the college across the glen accepted him with a full scholarship
The poor boy rejoiced for he could finally be with his heart’s possessor in courtship
He pranced through the forest of maples to the rich boy’s manor to tell him the news
But the poor boy was devastated when the handsome rich boy told him that his love he must lose
For the handsome rich boy had not chosen the college of his hometown
Instead, he had chosen a college in the east that was New England’s crown
The handsome rich boy declared that now that he will be so close to the beautiful black waters of the Atlantic,
He will be too far away to give the poor boy anything romantic
 
The poor boy ran to the highest bridge that ran across the highest glen
He stood above a mighty river at a height so high it has brought death to many men
The faery of seasons again appeared before the poor boy
She told him that through this tragedy he shall find joy
For just as the colorful maple leaves crumble away to the breath of white snow
Spring will come again and they will again grow
The boy left the bridge for his shire
So he could prepare himself for the college across the glen to make him into a man to admire
 
Thus is life in the realm of Massachusetts
Where the life of the peasants is full of regrets
Where the great houses grow to have full reign of the world
Where its most majestic beaches and sand dunes are on a cape that is curled
A realm of orange leafed mountains and glass towers
A land where a boy who has lost his antlers may find love that flowers

[Karl Rand]

The College Across the Glen
 

A realm of orange leafed mountains and glass towers
A land where a boy who has lost his antlers may find love that flowers

That last line knocked be sideways like one of Edith Sitwell’s best. As is often the case with my reaction to poetry I’m moved without really understanding why.
Reminded me of her “Poetry is the deification of reality.”