Student Poem:
Hero's Call
By Andrea Sandall
Sinister darkness envelops the land.
The shadows deepen. Defeat lies at hand.
You see the danger; will you take a stand?
How will you use your time?
Green fear soon dyes each face a deathly pall
As evil creeps closer, consuming all.
But a whisper breaks its paralyzing call:
How will you use your time?
Despairs dark, freezing finger tears and maims.
One touch, the sparks of hope from souls it drains.
But still a haunting question fans the flames:
How will you use your time?
You may lament in your time trouble came,
Bringing change. So do all who face the same.
Only you must decide: What is your aim?
How will you use your time?
Should you choose to set your comforts aside
To join the battle, fighting far and wide,
Life will be harder than if you had never tried.
Yet overlooked, weak, and small have oft turned the tide.
How will you use your time?
Last of all Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time that he slew Húrin cried: "Aurë entuluva! Day shall come again!"
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Andrea Sandall is a high school senior living near Sioux City, IA. At the present, she is most interested in using college to pursue the disciplines of Austrian economics, business, and foreign languages. Her hobbies include beekeeping, swimming, sewing, reading, and baking desserts.
Every Friday we publish essays, stories, and poems composed by students who have achieved an outstanding score on the CLT. Well done, Miss Sandall! You can see more from our top students with these essays on happiness in the writings of Herodotus and contrasting ideals of Victorian femininity in Great Britain and Brazil, or this two-part short story about an iconographer in hiding from a totalitarian regime. You might also enjoy our podcast, Anchored, or our series here at the Journal covering the great minds of the Western world.
Published on 26th August, 2022. Page image of J. R. R. Tolkien’s illustration of the Doors of Durin in The Lord of the Rings (source), provided for under fair use.
