Spring's Early Light

Eric Campos

Sacred meadow, gold and green,

Stretching far as the eye can see.

You tempt me cross, and yet that cannot be,

My mortal steps would surely trample thee.

And so I just stand,

I watch,

I soak you in from afar.

I gain joy in my heart,

It is a beautiful sight,

And yet, I know,

With winter it shall depart.

And that is what makes it a vision greater.

Fate or Fault

Eric Campos

In this ending time I spell my rhyme,

And wonder what brought the world to its fate.

Was it the time, the date, the Creator called end?
Was it prophesy that spelled our demise?
That blackened the skies?
That destroyed the land?
That drove the sea to its barren state?
Was it a trumpet call that sounded Man’s fall,
Or was the Man himself to blame?

Is it the shame of Man,
The fall of his own world?
Is Man’s own hand the weapon of his destruction?
Can one’s hands still mold redemption?
For ourselves?
For the world we live in?
Does Man not carve his own path?

Ascent of Man

Ascent of Man

Eric Campos


The boy entered the woods with a cautious stride,
for he was alone,
and the forest veil held many dangers,
many trials.

A Norse boy, his hair fell long and fair,
blue sapphire eyes staring forth,
as he moved into the wilderness,
far out of the hands of Man.

He had only a bow and a few arrows, a knife,
and clothes to shield him from the northern wind,
a hunter alone.

The wolf’s bale in the midnight,
the flowing creek,
the ancient trees,
the running deer,
the falling snow,
these were his companions and he learned in their presence.

He listened and watched, in the silent way.
He learned the language of all before him, and lived,
he thrived under the trees’ shadows.

From the wolf, he learned stealth and the art of the hunt,
learned to kill for the nourishment of his own.
Survival.

In the flowing creek, and the waters, the boy learned patience
as he plied a fisherman’s rod for food. It taught him direction,
and also the gratitude for quenched thirst.

The ancient trees and plants taught him beauty, and gifted him with shade,
they gave him sweet foods to eat, and taught him those bitter.
They taught him growth, and bounty.

The deer and other prey taught him humility,
for it was them he killed and lived from.
The deer taught him life and death;
everything lives,
everything dies.

The Northern snows, and raging tempests, and heat,
they taught him the way of the seasons of the Earth.
They taught him to build shelter,
and the pride of the work of his own hands.

He learned many other things,
He learned all the languages of the world around him.
He learned beauty and struggle,
and the Norse boy grew a Man.

One day the Man left the hall of trees,
settled away from the woods,
and made his own home.
He forgot all that he had learned.
He no longer needed them.