Climbing Out of the Burrow

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Abstract

uddy stones.</p><p id="77ee">‘Don’t listen to him. Try once more,’ said the friend inside my heart.</p><p id="667e">I clawed back the earth, found a sinewy root, grasped my cold hand around it, reached out again with my other paw, found another tree root, pulled myself up an inch or two further. I did it again, again, and again.</p><p id="9434">Each root drew me upward, like rungs on a ladder, until I saw speckled leaf shadows and dappled sunlight bounced off my eyes. I knew what they were because I’d seen them before</p><p id="c21a">I was born to live in the light so when I finally stood on the forest floor, I searched for the tallest tree, wrapped my arms around the trunk, and pulled myself toward the sun.</p><p id="b1b9">Note about this poem: When I began to write it, I was searching for a metaphor for a human being in a very depressed, marginalized state. As I wrote, I realized that I could take the metaphor further if I imagined the protagonist as an anguished squirrel caught in a rain-soaked hole — perhaps another animal’s dis

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carded burrow, maybe the burrow he/she was born in (ground squirrels nest in burrows). Whether you imagine the protagonist as a squirrel or an imprisoned human trapped within their own mindset or circumstance, the lesson is the same. Reach for the sun. This is my passion and reason for writing — to encourage us all, myself included, to reach for our best selves and create the best communities and countries we can.</p><div id="286b" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/poetry-competition-at-the-lark-publication-b88c7e00882"> <div> <div> <h2>Poetry Competition at The Lark Publication</h2> <div><h3>The Lark is hosting a poetry competition for the best poem</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*KVQqQgCrMFNT8czE)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

The Lark poetry competition submission — finding sun for humans and beasts — runner-up poem

Tree Trunk System rising above the ground. Taken by the poet. Credit Jane Harris

‘I have been in the dark so long, I can’t remember the light,’ I said aloud in the night.

‘Perhaps you were born in this wet pit. Surely there’s no way out,’ said a voice within my head.

‘But you have seen the sun before. You dream of it every night. Reach out your hands and make a start,’ chimed the champion of my heart.

I grasped the dirt walls, dug my fingers into the earth.

‘You’re flailing away, like the panicky gopher, crows caught in weeds that choke the mucky lake. You’ll fail, you’ll fail,’ said the voice inside my head, again and again. My foot slipped on the muddy stones.

‘Don’t listen to him. Try once more,’ said the friend inside my heart.

I clawed back the earth, found a sinewy root, grasped my cold hand around it, reached out again with my other paw, found another tree root, pulled myself up an inch or two further. I did it again, again, and again.

Each root drew me upward, like rungs on a ladder, until I saw speckled leaf shadows and dappled sunlight bounced off my eyes. I knew what they were because I’d seen them before

I was born to live in the light so when I finally stood on the forest floor, I searched for the tallest tree, wrapped my arms around the trunk, and pulled myself toward the sun.

Note about this poem: When I began to write it, I was searching for a metaphor for a human being in a very depressed, marginalized state. As I wrote, I realized that I could take the metaphor further if I imagined the protagonist as an anguished squirrel caught in a rain-soaked hole — perhaps another animal’s discarded burrow, maybe the burrow he/she was born in (ground squirrels nest in burrows). Whether you imagine the protagonist as a squirrel or an imprisoned human trapped within their own mindset or circumstance, the lesson is the same. Reach for the sun. This is my passion and reason for writing — to encourage us all, myself included, to reach for our best selves and create the best communities and countries we can.