Falling: A Poem

This is our first student produced blog post, which is a poem. In the next couple of days, we will be adding more students’ reflections and images.

Falling: A Poem

first

stop

tell me what you see

before i tell you

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i see my brother

far left

the one in the baseball cap

leaning in to say something

funny

that’s him

 

and

my grandpa

on the right

happily solitary

gazing up

probably wondering

about the stars

or something

 

but if you want to know

these people

are not my family

i don’t know their names

i don’t know their stories

to me

they are just curious silhouettes

against a beautiful sky

i found on top

of a mountain

but look closer

how are these people

in comparison to the world

around them

the clouds

the grass in the foreground

the sun

the sky

they are smaller

than these things

don’t you see

 

the earth is much bigger

than who they are

as people

with open tents

 

what a tiny observation

but it got me thinking

about a secret

i learned here

 

you can be in on it too

just know that

secrets

don’t fit completely

in letters on a page

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

these people

on the mountain

they know something

that we do not

 

they know

that the road will

always break

that the sidewalks

will crumble

and the mountain

may fall

on their city

just as it did

seven months ago

in an earthquake

devastating

and still

in crumbles

they pray

to their god and

their winged saints

above their cities

they light incense

lay flowers lend

hands and

let be

 

because

they know

as we do not

that humans

are not the biggest

holder of power

 

when a lake nearby

was polluted

beyond help

do you know

what they did

 

they brought flowers

to the water

sick and dying

what a sad beautiful

thing

 

i know

humans have power

we all know this

and that power can save us

i know

you know

but what if

the next time darkness

falls upon us

we try something different

 

instead of rushing

to our box of solutions to

our money to

our science

we bring flowers

to the water

first

 

tell me

how would that feel

to you

 

can you remember a time

when this

is what we did

 

as the sun began to fall

over these people

on the mountain

into a million shattered lights

in the city below

i realized

what a beautiful wisdom

exists here

in my brothers my

sisters my grandpas

and aunts

 

i hope only that i can catch

a small handful of it

to bring back

-Sophia Marie

Mar. 29, 2024

•