The Twisted Trail below Harmony Hill

/ Daniel Swearingen


“There is not a fragment in all nature, for every relative fragment of one thing is a full harmonious unit in itself.” – John Muir

“I play until my fingers are blue and stiff from the cold, and then I keep on playing. Until I’m lost in the music. Until I am the music–notes and chords, the melody and harmony. It hurts, but it’s okay because when I’m the music, I’m not me. Not sad. Not afraid. Not desperate. Not guilty.” – Jennifer Donnelly

“Harmony, gee I really love you and I want to love you forever, and dream of the never, never, never leaving harmony.” – Bernie Taupin/Elton John

For clear eyed I will rise on the season with this night past dead.

The pathway seems as I remember it, just colder with ghost of the path, a shame it is under the hillside, hidden so well in the past. The Alder it stands in a thicket, begging for a witch’s command, saying in spirits communion, let go of something you can. Dysphoria enters my neurons, shaking as old men or young men can do, when they ready their soul, to enter the darkness and fight the terror they knew. The twisted trail below Harmony bears thorns as depravity can. It matters not the story, the season that made life stall. The cold, cold touch of the daemon, his shadow that started it all. “Remand”, I say to the forest, “here where rotting leaves lay”. “Remand, the innocent childhood” from that flat stone where my young body lay”.

The Callaway plant lights the horizon, in the cold Missouri night. It sends its radioactive burdens to light my past burdens flight. The signs on the trail say “Jesus”, he makes your sins not right, and I wonder where was “Jesus”, when the boy on the flat rock cried. For there I hid in my secrets, the shadows they ran away. Daemon, I called you in thunder, you could not look at me the next day. However, I hid you in secret, those many years ago. Now I come upon this bare night, and strike the flat rock to let you go. Without malice you must go. You must go. For in the pools of frozen water, reflects a sight. Some do their deeds in darkness. Still, natures mirror is a light that holds keys. What dies here awaiting winter will seek the spring and rise to fly the wind, so free.

The pathway seems as I remember it, with Harmony up ahead, twisting turning, leafless branches tie and untie again. The Barred Owl cries in abandon, the sky grows rosy red, ashes to ashes, from my lost boyhood, something fills my head. No matter of all my transgressions, those omissions I might have stead. Adonai, the one who finds me, has led my soul until fed. This flat rock in this forest, beneath my minor head, provided me with strength of a union that spirit, never dead. There is no surviving in union, no victimization, to shed, for clear eyed I will rise on the season with this night past dead. “Remand”, I say to the hillside, “give harmony in all I wed”. “Let this trail go its way of sorrow, behold the blessings instead”. “Behold the blessings instead”.

For clear eyed I will rise on the season with this night past dead. – 10.23.2018 – דָנִיֵּאל

 

56 thoughts on “The Twisted Trail below Harmony Hill”

  4. Daniel this is truly a touching piece, that draws one out of their comfort zone, in perhaps identifying some past tragedy, and the steps to find redemption over it. I like that you reveal nothing but the ending where blessings linked to grace reside, with no malice. Peace not survivor hood is a wonderful trait to carry on. Bill

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  9. Brother, your words continue to touch me. Each one of us have a Harmony Hill, and a twisted path below it we maneuver through. Your Cathathis without malice is a part of light of Hashem. Shalom Den

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  10. Well versed piece Daniel, with plenty of symbolism for the heart and mind to chew on. Forgiveness starts inside, according to the better philosophers and that is where you have begun. Enjoyed the John Muir quote as I do most of his philosophy.

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  11. Well written Daniel. I am continually enthralled with the way you create prose. I find myself reading over and over again many of your pieces finding myself as a character rather than an observer. Thank you.

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  12. Harmony is a wonderful concept, and I like the way you place it as something to strive for not out of malice or victim hood. The freedom that comes when harmony is reached is a spiritual concept found in worldwide faiths. Your writing is amazing.

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  17. Amazing writing Daniel, you have put out wonderful words for life’s salvation. A great testament to forgiveness. Favorite line:” No matter of all my transgressions, those omissions I might have stead. Adonai, the one who finds me, has led my soul until fed.” ❤

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  20. In truth my blessings are great. Yet, there is often something to bemoan, obviously unwarranted. I was almost free, but my old life lured me back in. I know that last sentence is cryptic, but so is your fabulous prose. It seems your writing is a journey, a personal focus, for both of us.

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    • Hi Resa, We are alike aren’t we. 😉 Hopefully what lured you in is okay. I think my journey is calling me back to the Whitby Ladies and The Hardy Boys, enough of these twisted paths. 😉 Thank you for commenting my friend.

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      • Oh yes, all is well, however, I’ve wound up working long hours since Oct. began. I’d rather be working on my next Art Gown. I haven’t made a lot of progress since I last mentioned it, but I have made some progress. I’m doing some details, these butterfly kind of flowers to adorn her. I can chip away on those. I’ll need at least 50.
        Work gets in the way of my personal creativity. 🧐😘

        Liked by 1 person

  21. Also, Whitby Ladies and Hardy Boys are really fun.
    You know, in regards to Whitby Ladies, you have many options. Whether a new, an old, or combinations, the realm awaits!

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