For attorney and aspiring writer Adam Hill, his journey toward understanding the life of his younger brother, Eric, began by coping with Eric’s death, both in the present and 1,000 years before either of them was ever born. Adam tells his story to poet Kelley Bell about the process of chronicling his brother’s untimely passing, their family’s journey to lay him to rest, and how his death opened a door for Adam to more fully understand a faith practice that motivated his brother to travel across the globe in search of truth. Then Kelley takes the Hill family’s spiritual pilgrimage and turns it poetry.

Versify is a production of Nashville Public Radio and The Porch, Nashville’s nonprofit literary center. Editing for this episode came from WPLN’s Mack Linebaugh with additional editing by Anita Bugg. The episode was written, hosted and produced by Joshua Moore. Today’s story and poem were recorded by Tasha Lemley at Southern Festival of Books in October 2018.

The music is by Blue Dot Session and Claudio Nuñez, found through the Free Music Archive.

The show is distributed by PRX.