So you’re you, yes? A person of conservative or traditional or simply unloony views walking your campus with your head in...
Vocation
June 17, 2015
This poem appears in the Winter 2015 issue of Modern Age. To subscribe now, go here.
His hair not completely gray,
not yet.
The red on his face and neck
hides freckles.
He knows where he comes from.
His socks are thick and warm.
He has girded his boyish upper lip
against the cold:
a garment of orange bristles,
worn and fading.
He knows where he lives.
In spite of it all
(in spite of the gunmetal
and rosewood), humble
and observant.
He knows, as they say, where he is going.
His hands swift and careful and strong,
stained and scarred with work.
But his nails are clean.
The guests are leaving, laughing, while
his wife comforts a straggler:
the children and vagabonds are sleeping.
Behold the philosopher king!—
he is doing the dishes.
Jacob Culberson is an undergraduate student in philosophy and literature at Vanderbilt University.
Get the Collegiate Experience You Hunger For
Your time at college is too important to get a shallow education in which viewpoints are shut out and rigorous discussion is shut down.
Explore intellectual conservatism
Join a vibrant community of students and scholars
Defend your principles
Join the ISI community. Membership is free.
You might also like
J.D. Vance on our Civilizational Crisis
J.D. Vance, venture capitalist and author of Hillbilly Elegy, speaks on the American Dream and our Civilizational Crisis....
