Something Crazy

A Poem

The essay I am currently working on reflects some of the looming themes from my first semester in college: friendship, beauty, grief, and murder. While I make you wait, I decided to finish a poem I had begun earlier this semester, immortalizing a legendary trek to Buc-ee’s with nine of my new friends.

The reason this specific trip stood out as a highlight of the semester is because of its sheer self-importance. We were not studying together; we did not read our Bibles or sing worship music. We listened to secular music and drove an hour and a half to a gas station. I didn’t even buy anything at Buc-ee’s.

It was one of the most meaningful moments of the semester.

This trip embodied much of what I looked forward to in college. It reminded me that friends are worthwhile simply because they are worthwhile, even if you sometimes spend your whiles doing things of seemingly little worth.

Times of intentional spiritual wrestling and academic pursuit are vital to virtuous friendships, and those values should be at the core of the bonds you pursue with others, but the ways in which they are manifest in your camaraderie need not always be for the purpose of some external goal.

Conversely, driving to Buc-ee’s was not enjoyable because it was ironic or because it subverted expectations; nor because we embraced the inherent meaninglessness of our lives or decided to exercise our free will by engaging in the absurd. It was far more simple and profound. It was just a group of friends enjoying being together, and that is enough.

All that to say, I had so much fun visiting the Mecca of American consumerism with my friends that I wrote a dumb poem about it.

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Something Crazy

Dusk had draped her shawl across
The seminary lawn
Woven with glittering shimmering dew
Cresting the verdant bawn

We supped together at the brim
Of Dusk’s nocturnal hem
On sloppy joes and potatoes
Toasting a hard weeks end

Freshly filled with powdered mash
And saucy shredded meat
Our chairs reclined, our hearts inclined
To merriment's entreat

Despite Dusk’s nighttime ritual
Our night would not be lazy
For Nathan dear exclaimed aloud:
‘LETS DO SOMETHING CRAZY’

On bygone nights his plea had rung
In ears deadened with wax
But on this night his cry echoed
Through hearts from fears detached

Lady Dusk now her head upon
The pitch black eventide
The troupe commenced from Boyce College
In two parties of five

Our mission was to venture out
Beyond the mortal plane
Where gas pumps number in the scores
And brisket falls like rain

Buc-cees Buc-cees Buc-cees we cheered!
That Texas embassy
Guarded by the lone star beaver
Our weary hearts warm remedy

Nathan captained our merry band
Of five excited youths
Blasting girl pop and queuing jams
Belting old time show tunes

The long road was by fellowship
Reduced to mere seconds
“Time flies when you are having fun”
So we flew like ‘scaped felons

As the beaver peered into view
We hollered hoorays hearty
The scent of brisket wafted in
But where was the other party?

Somewhere in the frenzy we had
Failed to confirm locations
One party drove to Bowling green
Another to the Richmond station

One miscalculation could not
Dampen our revelry
So plots diverged yet both cars still
Arrived at sweet Buc-cees

To call it a gas station would
Be as ample a lie
As calling New York 'a small town'
Or Donald Trump ‘ just some guy’

Buc-cees defies description
But safe enough to say
Nathan’s plan had delivered
In every single way

Diverged plots then would intertwine
As we returned to school
Curfew’s shadow looming so high
Over the brave carpool

Lady Dusk had already dreamed
Of autumn’s showers and winter’s sleet
Whilst we recessed to each our quarters
To dream once more of Buc-cees sweet

...

I'll ne'er forget the time we drove
To the Buc-cees at Smith Grove
And tho that trek was off-the-cuff
Its safe to say that once was enough

Still now and then Nathan will say
‘LETS DO SOMETHING CRAZY’
But after three hours on the road
I see the matter plainly
That ‘crazy thing’ Nathan proposed
Was not some far flung funny scheme
No hollow thrill, nor inanity
The craziest thing he ever did
Was love with the love
That the Savior gave him

To share his time 
To share his ride
To smile wide and sing aloud
To be a friend of great renown 
To channel Christ's work on the tree
When to the untrained eye, 
We simply drove to Buc-cees

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This poem, while directly inspired by the herculean antics of my friend Nathan, is really dedicated to all the new friends I made during my first semester of school. I prayed to God for so very long that He would bring me to you. And now, I can confirm what God told Habakkuk to be true: “For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

I could never have known how wonderfully bright the face of Christ would shine through the visages of my new friends. I cherish the time we spend together, even when that time is spent doing the mundane… or the spontaneously wacky.

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