Did you flavor it with Hemingway,
or season it with Thoreau
Did you structure it like Eliot,
or was Melville more your go
The rocks you choose to stand upon,
—just supports to look beyond
As you add your face onto the mountain,
new words inscribed in song
Past voices serve to push you,
to that place you’ve never been
Where your breath may cleanse forever
the stain,
—of unoriginal sin
(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)