John Beam | + Follow Poet |
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The Thousand Steps

The rule of a legend is, that it is possibly true but there is not ever enough proof,              yet I heard from a friend, that dozens of children have died and 
many others, at the Thousand Steps to the Mississippi in Clinton, Iowa. 
A place, where Stone Face was worshiped, for he watched over the area and the tribes. Over time, legends change and rearrange but they are usually strange,                         so why should this one be any different. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote of a prophecy, about a great stone face, and that a man was to be born in his image.                   
I’m reminding everyone, that there are the steps, and there is a silhouette,      
of a man dressed in stone. This story comes from a friend of a friend.                
 A young boy, who was not afraid at all, of the stories, begins his descent,        
on the Thousand Step stairway. Step after step, to the river below,        
walking alone, as the storm clouds cover the sun and the woods,             
become dark.The boy’s imagination has begun to run away,                          
and then behind him, he hears click, click but he is a smart boy and       
reminds himself. It is just a stick falling, from a tree,                                        
so he continues downward.There are now, many steps behind him and     
many more, before him. He comes to a stone bridge,                                 
where he looks over the edge. When swoosh! A covey of black crows fly up, 
almost hitting in the face, causing him to slip but as the imagination goes,  
there is always something, lying beneath. Upon catching his balance,     
realizing they had not come, for his soul the boy moves on.                          
Suddenly he hears a strange moan and tries to blame this, on the wind coming, 
across the mighty river but to be sure, he runs a little bit.                           
When lightning strikes and from the light, he sees a silhouette of a man.    
Stopping in his steps, He notices, that he cannot move or speak but            
only groan. The boy has becomes stone and the path is, like some           
Medusan pathway. We all have seen faces in stone and in other things,   
therefore the moral of this story is you should always be wary,                           
of where you step!

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