The Future is Ours

 The future is ours.

So back off

Old fogeys,

You’re left in the dust.

We are sending out the old.

Bringing in the new.

 

You say we

Have bad ideas,

And silly and unrealistic notions.

 

You say we

do stupid things,

And never think things through.

 

But take a look around,

And see where you got us.

 

Lost

Who do you know who was lost?

Who was blinded

And confused

In their darkest days?

 

How many of them have gone because of others?

Could you have made a difference?

 

If you didn’t try then,

You still can now.

It is never too late.

You can always make a difference;

And even if you cannot see

It changing anything at all,

Nothing is wasted.

 

You may never see

The effects of your efforts,

But if you try to bring light to someone,

It only makes yours brighter.

Her Eyes

I watch.

I listen.

She seems so strong.

So happy.

She loves her life.

 

But her eyes.

 

When I look in her eyes,

I forget.

 

I forget what I see and hear and fall.

I fall into those eyes.

Into those dark shimmering pools and feel.

I feel so much.

 

I feel lost.

I feel pain.

I feel sorrow.

 

 

I find myself believing the eyes.

The eyes that holds so much.

That hold it all separate from the world.

Her eyes.

Change

You can stand

You can fight

Against the world.

Teachers, students

Enemies, Friends.

 

You can fight against

What cannot be stopped,

And not accept

The change.

 

But no matter,

Whatever you do,

You cannot stop change.

It’s going to happen anyway.

 

But what you can do,

Is whether you let

The changing world

Change you.

Dream

We used to run all over the neighborhood.

Flying kites,

Playing ball,

Running amok.

One day we found the tree,

On the other side of the field.

That tree was massive.

Tens of us around and hundreds high.

Or so it seemed.

It took us three days to scale the monstrosity.

Once we gained the summit,

The world became our sandbox,

Spreading out beneath us.

We fought off boarders on our pirate ship.

We stormed the wizard’s stone tower.

We flew through the clouds.

We stood on Mt. Everest.

Anything that we dreamed was possible.

Or on the hottest days,

It could just be our plain old shady treehouse,

That always caught a breeze.

Sanctuary?

Open the door

And hide away

Then close it off again.

 

Shut yourself into

Your very own

Safe haven.

 

The place to where

We run away

To escape

From the world,

Is also where

We learn to fail.

 

And yet

Still we go

Because we do not

Want to fight the fight.

The most difficult one

Of all of them.

 

To live well.

I Wrote You a Poem

The other day

I wrote you a poem

And for once I said

What I actually feel.

No longer hiding

What I have inside,

Pouring out my soul

And all of my heart.

 

But as I finished

I began to falter

Debating whether

To share it with you.

 

Staring at

The finished product

I tore it up

Just to write it again.

Look Back Down

When he was small,

Just in first grade,

He saw a bully

Picking on another,

But he looked back down.

 

Later on in life,

Throughout his school years,

Every time he saw the trash

Falling from their hands,

He looked back down.

 

During an important test,

He watched the two of them

Conniving together,

Cheating their way through,

But he looked back down.

 

For who or what will we stand?

How much has to be at stake?

Each time we do it,

It gets easier

To just look back down.

English Teachers: and Their Silly Assignments

High school English teachers are the bane of smart children. They are the masters of doling out enormous quantities of busy work. Completely unnecessary, for some of us at least. Here we get to how public schools are so incredibly inefficient. And also how when we are not leaving that one kid behind who doesn't speak English and doesn't care about school, I would rather not be thrown under the bus everyday of school for my entire life. Yes, let's not get into that. So, even though I was in college level courses this past year, (or at least it was supposed to be English 101 and 102) I still did more busy work and colored more things with crayons than I have since 3rd grade. Anyway, I did learn to write much better which is the point of the class, but I will always resent busy work and those who give it. Here was one of those silly assignments that I hate which in the end turned out to be quite meaningful and helped me to understand myself better.

To care or not to care-that is the question:

Whether ‘tis simpler in the end to endure

The curves and switchbacks of having emotion,

Or to altercate with all of the people

And, plainly put, afflict them.

To wall, to block,

Feeling

-and by barricading emotion end

The distress and the thousand apprehensions

That everyone has

-that is a road

I have walked down before.

To barricade, to feel,

Nothing at all.

Yes, that’s the problem,

For without any of the bad feelings,

That everyone normally has,

We can have no good.

There’s the value

That makes the tangle of life worth living.

What kind of a person would endure all;

The misplaced blame, the stinging remarks,

The hurt of rejection, every injustice,

The contempt of those who don’t understand,

That all channel together to hurt,

When I do it to myself

Without any help?

Who would care a whit,

To cry and groan over painful emotions,

Unless the joys of brighter feelings,

Far outweighed each and every one

Of the aches, or afflictions

So that each of us would accept

Having both ends of the deal?

Thus we see emotion is definitely worth it.

And even though I could easily

Exist without the world of feelings

I could never have great satisfaction

Or experience the feelings of

Love and happiness.

If I Cared For You

If I cared for you

I would do

Oh, so many things.

I would walk with you on moonlit beaches

And we could gaze up at the sky.

I would write a song of what I feel

And play it just for you.

I would dance with you in the rain

And lose myself in your eyes.

I would bring to you, not just one,

But a dozen crimson roses.

And then I would ask of you

If I could take you to Prom.

I would do all this and more

Because I care for you.

This is the poem I wrote to ask for Prom. Oh, memories.