Why I Like the Tomb

Abstract

Why I Like the Tomb Chris Anderson It's peaceful, like the house where I grew up, with the warm stone walls and the earth floor I swept clean everyday with straw. Outside, the cattle were lowing and sometimes looking in with enormous eyes like small, brown planets. I don't know what I was afraid of. * * * Beyond the walls of the cave there is a garden. The sun rises and sets and rises again. Warblers fret in the brittle trees. Sometimes I think I even hear the rustling of the snake on its marvelous, oily scales! * * * The darkness. The blessed darkness. Like the darkness of the garden before they came with their torches, the clamoring crowds and the soldiers in their leather, jeering, too. This darkness is what was made for us and to this we all return. The dry leaves of the olive trees. The night breeze. How the rabbit and the mouse waited in the shadows, perfectly still, watching us with eyes like bright, black buttons. Chris Anderson is Professor of English at Oregon State University and author or coauthor of 12 books, including a book of poems, My Problem With the Truth (Cloudbank, 2003). He is also a Catholic Deacon. canderson@oregonstate.edu