‘Under the Rocks Are the Words’ by Alec Ream

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“Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.” -Norman Maclean

Ask not the earth, ask not the sky,
Drain not the firth nor pester, pry,
Strain not the stone, nor probe the airs,
To gain what’s known, amid what’s theirs.
Beneath the stuff, below a mask,
Beyond enough, beyond the ask,
Unhanded clasp and more than mensch,
Commanded Word, that core of quench,
Thus chant they low, from melded word,
Although they can’t, unquelled, unheard,
Creation sings, of God, of theirs,
That Earth He trod, the rocks and airs.

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Alec Ream is a writer living in Virginia. His poetic work and creative fiction have been widely published. A member of the Demosthenian Literary Society at UGA, he wrote on Lookout Mountain, and continued to write, lecture and work for Delta Kappa Epsilon HQ. He was first published reading to the pledge class of Michigan DKE, in Ann Arbor in 2008. Recently, his poem Green Fire was read at the Washington Literary Society & Debating Union at UVA.