If you want to recreate the sea
...another sky for me
*
It was the kind of spring day, a week or two early, where the wind was already warm. We had our opening exercises, made sure lunches were packed, and promptly had math and english classes. Shuffled into the rented vans we were on our way.
It was beautiful. We talked in low murmurs, but more often just remained silent. A trip that most of all of us knew had never been taken before by our young school. These roads were new, the fresh green on the trees and fields holding our gaze as we passed by.
We all grew up reading the signs along the highways in north central Ohio and now we were going there. Arriving at the caverns, the awe was full within us. Undiscovered territory, at least for is in our last weeks as sixth graders.
It was the guided tour that we had grown to know and loathe in our time. But instead of above the earth we were below it. From the warmth of nearly 70 we descended to the steadiness of 52 degrees year around, walking the narrow path that wound is through the marvels of things we had only seen in school books and National Geographics.
Stalactites, stalagmites, rock formations long since gone dry but lit in such a way we could see their glorious colors. Silence was around us, a rarity on these trips. It was too amazing, too rapterous for our minds to comprehend.
We had reached the end, but the guide stopped us before our ascent. Surely. We had seen everyhing, but with the words There is one last thing for you today, so if you could all turn around...
And her words were lost to us, as we looked upon all those wonders we had seen only from one side, one geometry. The miraculousness filled our eyes one last time as we turned to see where we came from.
We shivered in the cold but did not care.
*
It was the kind of spring day, a week or two early, where the wind was already warm. We had our opening exercises, made sure lunches were packed, and promptly had math and english classes. Shuffled into the rented vans we were on our way.
It was beautiful. We talked in low murmurs, but more often just remained silent. A trip that most of all of us knew had never been taken before by our young school. These roads were new, the fresh green on the trees and fields holding our gaze as we passed by.
We all grew up reading the signs along the highways in north central Ohio and now we were going there. Arriving at the caverns, the awe was full within us. Undiscovered territory, at least for is in our last weeks as sixth graders.
It was the guided tour that we had grown to know and loathe in our time. But instead of above the earth we were below it. From the warmth of nearly 70 we descended to the steadiness of 52 degrees year around, walking the narrow path that wound is through the marvels of things we had only seen in school books and National Geographics.
Stalactites, stalagmites, rock formations long since gone dry but lit in such a way we could see their glorious colors. Silence was around us, a rarity on these trips. It was too amazing, too rapterous for our minds to comprehend.
We had reached the end, but the guide stopped us before our ascent. Surely. We had seen everyhing, but with the words There is one last thing for you today, so if you could all turn around...
And her words were lost to us, as we looked upon all those wonders we had seen only from one side, one geometry. The miraculousness filled our eyes one last time as we turned to see where we came from.
We shivered in the cold but did not care.
posted by jersn at 10:50 PM
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