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Cracks in the Ground

Today the mourning parish bells have pealed.
Men broke the dirt with family gathered round,
And sang the songs of Heaven while we kneeled.
__Now we make these cracks in the ground.

I stand atop that hill of graven stones.
Before me sits the aging earthen mound.
Below there rest a recent father’s bones.
__Now we fill these cracks in the ground.

I stand beside the furrows in a field
Releasing seeds that fall without a sound
To lie in silent tombs and wait the yield.
__Now we use these cracks in the ground.

Yet in its time I see the bud revealed.
Yet in their time the graves will be unbound.
The law of sin and death will be repealed
__Then we’ll leave these cracks in the ground.

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The Strength of God Was in His Hair

The strength of God was Samson’s in his hair.
Jehovah sent His champion to the fight,
To bring God’s wrath upon the people there.

The men of Gaza sent Delilah fair,
To trap the lion breaker Nazirite,
But the strength of God was Samson’s in his hair.

By bonds the men attempted to impair,
But when the soldiers found him in the night,
He brought God’s wrath upon the people there.

Yet thrice she asked the secret to be shared.
Each time refused until to her delight:
“The strength of God is Samson’s in his hair.”

They found him shorn, pathetic, unaware.
The Lord decreed that when they took his sight
He’d bring God’s wrath upon the people there.

Amid the pillars for dramatic flair,
They had forgotten Who gave him his might.
The strength of God returned with Samson’s hair.
He brought God’s wrath upon the people there.

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Skye Campbell is a young poet and avid reader from Moscow, Idaho, living among the trees and rolling hills of the Palouse.

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7 Responses

  1. Cynthia Erlandson

    Skye, I think both of these poems show a lot of skill and instinct for poetry. “Cracks in the Ground” is very moving, with its slightly varied refrains at the end of each stanza; well-developed imagery (dirt / mound /field /ground); and its allusion to scripture’s metaphor of a seed needing to die in the ground before it is raised to life. Your villanelle about Samson is, to begin with, a very good idea for a poem; and you carry it out well, ending with a nice variation in “The strength of God returned with Samson’s hair.” I’m sure I won’t be the only one here who hopes to see more of your work!

    Reply
    • Skye Campbell

      Thanks Cynthia! I’ve enjoyed writing these poems and I hope to write many more.

      Reply
  2. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Skye, these are two precious poems. The message of the “Cracks in the Ground” is conveyed with great sensitivity both to the planting of the seed with blossoming of the plants and to the ascendancy from the grave of the believers. “The Strength of God was in His Hair” is the great biblical story and lesson to sometimes keep secret what God has told us to as our agreement that if broken leads to our demise. Samson must have done some heavy praying and penance for his hair to grow back, and then God used him again to “bring down the house” of the Philistines. Both poems are very well written and perfectly rhymed,

    Reply
    • Skye Campbell

      Thanks Roy! Samson felt like it fit really well as a villanelle. Cracks in the Ground has a lot of personal meaning to it and I am glad it worked so well.

      Reply
  3. Paul A. Freeman

    I loved ‘Cracks in the Ground’, Skye. A classic ‘silver lining poem, yet so much more than that.

    Your Samson poem reminded me of the Samson and Delilah film from, I guess, the 1950s, with Victor Mature which used to hit my TV screen annually back in the day.

    You have a gift. Thanks for the read.

    Reply
  4. Daniel Kemper

    I think the repetitions of the villanelle fit nicely with the tale. The overarching start with long hair and strength, then it’s return in the end as the initially separated repetends come together is a great frame. Then the repetitious nature of the story: She asked, he dodged; she asked again; he dodges again lend the right air to this.

    Hoping to see more!

    Reply

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