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One Still Night MAG

December 24, 2011
By Trevor_Eakes GOLD, Dupont, Washington
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Trevor_Eakes GOLD, Dupont, Washington
13 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The Unexamined Life is not worth Living."

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As the night softly slips downward, I lose myself in the disillusionment of the day. My mind still stirs with a listless buzz, but my eyes are sore and my head aches. The day has been a seamless limbo, a collective sigh in anticipation of the holiday to come – Christmas, our Christmas at last. And a nervous gurgling inside me tells me tomorrow is that day indeed.

I am at that point when the holiday has not yet lost its full flavor, though the magic has already died within me. It is hard to know what to think, what to feel. All around me stills and strains in preparation. I am asking myself, “If Christmas is nothing, what is everything else?” Another cracking piece of my adolescence falling away into a pit of hazy memory. It is a tell-tale sign of my predicament and that of all the rest of young humanity. The final vestiges of my childhood have worn paper-thin.

It seems we are driven as if by nature and the great force that is irony to turn on our precious childhood, which we once slept so soundly in, which guarded us from many great things, and kill it, crush it like glass, rip it apart piece by piece with bloodied hands. Then the water rushes in and we cannot breathe. We never learned to swim. When people are older, they look at their hands and say,



What have you done, hands of mine,

That you could kill a thing so meek,

That I could live in a world so bleak?

My God, my God, where is my childhood?

If only I had spared it

While still tender and sweet.



It's all nonsense, of course, and in our minds we know it. Yet people will indulge all the same. For me I cling to what I can and welcome what I must. The trick is seeing all the stars born before the star that now fades, and the star yet to come, simultaneously.

All things change. My boyhood, however, is still for perhaps a few more moments my own, and I will enjoy what remains of it. This will be my last Christmas with my family while still living under their roof, so tomorrow I will rekindle old fires and enjoy good company. Will I be ready?

© Steven S., Marblehead, MA

The author's comments:
So that we may remember the child in all of us and remain aware as we change from within.
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JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 10 comments.

Brie555 said...
on Dec. 23 2012 at 3:19 pm
 I dont think it's depressed. Reading it, I thought it was a great poem; it sorta struck me as a story. My favorite was the first paragraph with all the descriptions :) Anyway, I think it's great.
Oneself BRONZE said...
on Dec. 19 2012 at 4:40 pm
Oneself BRONZE, Maitland, Florida
4 articles 1 photo 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
Your life is based on your choices, not your abilities.

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This is a beautiful story. Great job. Keep on writing!
Marethyu GOLD said...
on Dec. 14 2012 at 2:16 pm
Marethyu GOLD, Columbus, Ohio
11 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
&ldquo;No man&#039;s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.&rdquo; - John Locke

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This story is very well written. At some points I feel there are unnecessary words, but that might just be my writing style. Continue the good work!
Madison_E BRONZE said...
on Dec. 8 2012 at 4:09 pm
Madison_E BRONZE, Brownstown, Michigan
2 articles 0 photos 13 comments

Favorite Quote:
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

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This was so beautiful, I could seriously relate to it (: The thought proccess behind it is something I think about way too much, great job
Zayyy BRONZE said...
on Dec. 8 2012 at 11:00 am
Zayyy BRONZE, Baltimore, Maryland
2 articles 1 photo 15 comments
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I swear, if someone make one more depressed, or gothic story imma scream!
oneofakind said...
on Dec. 7 2012 at 10:15 pm
omg i can totally relate!! when i was reading this piece i was literally like : :0 omg this is a really good work tho :)
satellite23 GOLD said...
on Dec. 6 2012 at 1:09 pm
satellite23 GOLD, Cincinnati, Ohio
14 articles 0 photos 100 comments

Favorite Quote:
Prove it.

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Wow...that was beautiful and exactly how I feel about life. There were amaizng quotes inside your piece as well.   On another note, did you write that poem? If not, where did you get it from?
MorganDepp BRONZE said...
on Dec. 4 2012 at 11:41 pm
MorganDepp BRONZE, Santee, California
3 articles 0 photos 9 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;If you love two people at the same time, choose the second. Because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn&#039;t have fallen for the second.&quot;<br /> -Johnny Depp

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Perfect. I absolutely love this piece.
GuardianoftheStars GOLD said...
on Dec. 4 2012 at 5:01 pm
GuardianoftheStars GOLD, Shongaloo, Louisiana
17 articles 0 photos 495 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Let&#039;s tell young people the best books are yet to be written; the best painting, the best government, the best of everything is yet to be done by them.&quot;<br /> -John Erslcine

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I could totally relate. But you wrote it beautifully. Good job!
HopeIsWhatWeCrave GOLD said...
on Dec. 3 2012 at 6:55 pm
HopeIsWhatWeCrave GOLD, Rowlett, Texas
11 articles 1 photo 13 comments

Favorite Quote:
[Frodo] How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend... some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold. <br /> <br /> _________________<br /> <br /> [Pippin] I didn&#039;t think it would end this way. <br /> [Gandalf] End? No, the journey doesn&#039;t end here. Death is just another path... One that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass... And then you see it. <br /> [Pippin] What? Gandalf?... See what? <br /> [Gandalf] White shores... and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise. <br /> [Pippin] Well, that isn&#039;t so bad. <br /> [Gandalf] No... No it isn&#039;t.<br /> <br /> _________________<br /> <br /> [Frodo] I can&#039;t do this Sam.<br /> [Sam] I know. By rights we shouldn&#039;t even be here, but we are. It&#039;s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn&#039;t want to know the end, because how could the end by happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it&#039;s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even the darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. The folk in those stories had plenty of chances of turning back only they didn&#039;t. They kept going. Because they were holding onto something. <br /> [Frodo] What were they holding onto, Sam?<br /> [Sam] That there&#039;s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it&#039;s worth fighting for

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That was very good! It almost made me cry, because I am just getting to that point in my life right now. Standing on the brink of adulthood, longing for it and yet not wanting to let go of the child I've almost left behind...