Inklings 2025

The Man After the Deluge Ron Donaldson ’25 Born of sun-soaked Florida soil, quiet as the tide lapping the shore. But when I’m with my boys, I break wide open, a storm of laughter, like thunder rolling after the rain. The field calls me— I’m on defense, always watching, waiting, the quiet shadow ready to strike, like a cat poised to pounce on its prey, breaking through chaos like wind through trees, steady, unshaken, a force unseen. But in the stillness, when the world gets quiet, Brent and Jhené sing me to sleep. Their voices crash like waves, syncing with my breath as rain taps against the windowpane. Nobody expects it, but I find peace in pages— books, secret doorways where my mind runs wild, just as wild as my feet on the field. It’s an escape from the noise, a quiet where I find myself. 1