Ath And Theo Poem by Lazarus Knix

Theo and Ath were braving a mountain,
Draped in unforgiving frost and white wind,
Which buffeted the cedars to and fro,
Pinning their thick branches onto the ground,
Disrupting the tombs of men that fell there-
Which lied buried beneath the opal ice.

Theo’s journey began, the western face
Of the mountain would be his starting place.
A side softer in weather than the east
(Where Ath would be beginning his journey) .
Theo gazed at the welcoming sunlight,
Which radiated from the mountain's crown.
Dashing light through smoke rings, dazzling down,
Catching the ice just right to make it gleam.
Theo admired the base’s embrace,
But knew that even beauty must be left,
For truth, truth beyond comfort and stillness.

The soft snow was white sand beneath his feet,
As his footsteps began with bounds and leaps.
Covering the first quarter of the trek,
With nearly no difficulty at all.
Yet as the air began to thin like yarn,
Peeled further to smaller and smaller strings,
He steps became limps, his mind, fogged with ice
Struggling to give reason to each print
He resolved to leave in the mountain face.

He stumbled and fell, his tongue, tasted death.
Unable to stand, he figured this it,
Until raising his eyes, and seeing Ath-
Equally frozen and blue from his path.
“Theo, you fool” Ath spitefully spat, “Now
You know there is nothing worthwhile here,
And feelings you gain from gazing at the sun,
The warmth you acquire from it’s body,
Was valuable below, in ignorance
But not here, not where frozen truth
Laughs at, and chokes the lungs of believers”
Ath Continued “I shall die….I must die
Here with truth iced upon my weak body”

Theo weakly rose, and said “We must leap-
Leap to become like the light of the sun”
“I will not” Ath said, my journey is done.
“Faith, faith Ath, that everything will be well”
“Faith is what placed us into this hell! ”
At that Theo turned, and uttered goodbye.
Feeling free, free for each moment he fell.

Ath was found dead upon the mountain peak
Theo’s body was never recovered.