Harps Hung Up in Babylon

The title comes from Psalm 137 - the moment when exiled Israelites hung their harps in Babylon, unable to sing the songs of Zion. This collection pulses with that same grief: melodies that cannot be finished, homes that cannot be returned to, memories that sharpen rather than fade. Colton moves through biblical landscapes and medieval imagery, but the heartbeats are timeless - the ache for something lost, the bitter fruit of desire, the strange mercy in letting go. The poems range widely in scene and sentiment. "The Captive" weighs justice against mercy in a king's terrible choice. "The Shepherd and the Knight" asks whether restless quest or quiet contentment brings greater peace. Others trace love's fleeting beauty and the way beauty itself becomes a form of longing. Throughout runs a tension between the sacred and the earthly, between what we grasp and what dissolves between our fingers. These poems endure because exile, in all its forms, has not stopped happening. For readers who find solace in restrained sorrow and verse that whispers rather than shouts.