A little graduation poem

Tomorrow I graduate.

and as I walk that stage I will leave behind a piece of me.

a feeling of leaving summer camp

of hugging all my friends goodbye

and crying in the car thinking of all the beautiful times left behind me

but I’ll be glad to be back in my bed.

I’ve had a lifetime of goodbyes

of coming and going and never staying for too long.

But too long was not too long for the years I spent here

For the city that engulfed me with open arms,

for the friends that became the threads for a tapestry of life

for the one person who was the whole image

and every corner of my world.

You never realize how beautiful things are

until they’re behind you

and you look back through the rear window

of the car packed with everything you own,

and your heart is hurting with a dull ache

for the life you built.

For the happy moments, the tragic ones,

the monumental obstacles that are now miniscule from the distance.

A complicated picture

made up of millions of pixels

while your hands itch to build

a new one before you

square by square.

as I walk the stage tomorrow

I won’t tell anyone how I feel,

I’ll think of the things I could’ve done

the people I could have befriended

It’ll be cliche and sad and exciting

like how much my heart will ache

as I walk the runway onto the plane

in 3 months time

and watch my beautiful city recede

from a world

to toy buildings

to bright lights

to a single speck on a large Earth.

A new world that is waiting for me to create it.

Growing up is so very painful

rearranging bones and stretching out skin,

discovering yourself and deciding if you like who that is.

I may cry for the things I leave behind

but I am happy for what is ahead of me.

My life will be nothing but beautiful

if i make it so

because as much as it hurts to grow

it hurts even more to stay the same.