The Midnight Vale: Poems by John Evans

  Ascension to Paradise

Out of the aching nightmare I am reaching,

Searching for a silver gate,

Beyond time’s chain cold and unfathomable,

Preserved for eternity by God’s good grace.

I feel myself slowly drifting,

Like a leaf on some deep stream,

Shining with a thousand precious colors,

Richer than those life imitates.

Beyond me lie fields of virgin grass,

And mountains taller than mortal peaks,

Crowned by palaces amongst the stars,

Steeped in golden mystery.

I float upon the amber air,

And through the gate my conscience earned,

Until I land in my familiar form,

Dressed in clean silk whiter than snow.

Here she finds me in thoughtful repose,

A woman with fare emerald eyes

Who peers inside my living soul,

And cleanses sin’s bitter grief.

She calls my name in a knowing way,

Absolving me of fear,

And with her stainless hand guides me hence,

From that blossoming orchard. 

John Evans is a 19-year old student of Medieval History and Literature at Manhattan College in New York City who is a writer for "Legendarium" a Tolkien fandom website and much more and has a book of poems (published soon) called "The Midnight Vale." He is also author of "All The Best Things"  (click for the link) a suspenseful tale of love and betrayal among a group of young musicians playing in Hudson Valley, New York. All The Best Things chronicles the struggles of a blind musician, torn between the love for his craft and the love of another. John also is a dear friend and is part of my Tolkien Archaeology collection on Sir Gawain and The Green Knight and can be found with me on The Silmarillion Seminar podcast with The Tolkien Professor. In our "many meetings" we have spent countless hours waxing philosophic. If I had one intellectual heir, it would be John Evans.