The Reckoning - Or Lack Thereof

photo by third year Rachel Waters

“The Reckoning - Or Lack Thereof”

by third year Rachel Waters

A reckoning is a moment of judgement and growth, a time for reflection, an inner oath. I coined “wreck-en-ing” to embody its foe – destruction without meaning, with no desire to know. 

A reckoning softly knocks like a hand at my door –

A hunger, a whisper—seek and you'll know more.

A reckoning is my hand smeared in ink,

With Walker’s coffee gone cold and a mind that won’t sleep.

It’s socratic duels at a table for one,

Chasing the truth till the moon meets the sun.

It’s questions that burn, finding answers I earned,

It’s knowing the more I know, the less I have learned.

It pleads: expand, it whispers: explore,

A hunger for knowing, for growing, for more.

But a wreck-en-ing? Oh…

It kicks down the door.

Shatters the windows,

Rips up the floor.

It’s chaos, 

its carnage, 

no lesson, 

just war –

Just wreckage, and wreckage, and wreckage galore.

It’s up all night, for no damn cause,

Not reading Kant, just feeding my flaws.

Its gossip, its drama, chasing the past

Skipping my classes, but swearing I'll pass.

I dust off old messages I swore I’d erase,

But still, I indulge—a fresh new disgrace.

Its poking the fire, ignoring the cost,

Chasing the high, but knowing it’s lost.

A reckoning calls, yet the wrecking won’t wait,

One sharpens my mind, while the other seals fate.