Just wisps of clouds dot the periwinkle sky
Faint breeze dancing among the leaves
Grads gathering, twelve at a time.
Four guests only. Strictly enforced by the
Ministry of Health. Bring five. Grad ends.
The tents in case of rain
Lake and hills in view.
Pandemic grads to walk across the grass
This graduation has so many things new
but something old:
Hand-shake in gown and cap.
Farewell, all our best wishes go with you.
Misty’s shoes
attended graduation,
tramping up and down the stairs,
standing at the podium as
name after name was read
each biography
each list of scholarships.
Dancing for young people,
leaping off into the unknown.
Misty’s shoes were there,
celebrating a roomful of potential
that Misty will never know.
.
.
.
A few years ago on eBay I purchased a pair of stunning black and white spectator pumps (Listen Up Harlow by John Fluevog). While corresponding with the seller, I was told that they were her deceased sister’s shoes. Misty had passed away from cystic fibrosis. I was touched by the story, and wrote a character named after her into the novel I was writing at the time. Misty loved shoes and dancing and her passions fueled her story line in Grace Awakening Myth. (GA Myth is still in editing and revisions. Not sure that sub-plot will make the cut, actually). Thinking about Misty while wearing her shoes at my school’s grad this week, I remembered young people I knew who passed away far too young.
It’s passing through time
moving on time
gotta go time.
It’s we’re through here
all done here
wrapping up here.
It’s wear the gown time;
cross the stage time;
toss the cap time;
No more waiting!
Celebrating
Graduating.
This is a stop.
But only a brief one.
Long journeys
Pre-school.
Kindergarten.
Elementary school.
Secondary school.
One bachelor’s degree.
Two bachelor’s degrees.
And finally school feels finished.
So we will celebrate as you don the cap and gown,
walk across a stage,
accept the diploma.
We’ll snap the photos and be glad
This is a stop in the educational journey
But soon it will be your own class room,
filled with your students,
and soon you’ll realize,
your education is just beginning.
We’re nestled here between the hills
protected from the harsh winds
warm and basking by the lake.
But you are bored,
you’re ready to escape,
to see what lies beyond the valley
and so we wave farewell
knowing after adventure,
home calls the blood.
Our graduating students chose the theme of CARNIVAL! for their Graduation ceremony today. I wrote a poem for the teacher they asked to be the special speaker. Here it is:
ERS GRAD 2015 POEM
A carnival is quite a bore if you are there alone
And surely melancholy could seep into your bones
But in the night, with all your friends
A carnival’s great fun, the spinning lights will mesmerize
The laughter never ends.
Cherish time together
at this your graduation
Your memories and histories are worth the celebration.
You may live far apart as you journey through your lives
But always choose what’s positive
and you will choose to thrive.
For life can be a carnival, it’s fun and fearful, too
Remember Eagle River,
as we’ll fondly think of you.
Oh, loser dad,
squealing the tires of your
red convertible in
front of all the grads.
I’m sorry
you peaked in high school.
The revving of your engine
declares you
as a fool.
Faces turn, loser dad,
with pity on your son,
the grad.
May he go on to be
much better
than the man
he sees.
.
.
.
Ok, ok. I know this one is harsh. But seriously. 2-300 people in the courtyard, little kids moving through the parking lot, and this idiot is smoking his tires as he parks his car. Really? Common sense, man!
The sky drips
its soggy sorrow
on students
walking into exams.
They step
out of white hazes
in expectation
(or desperation).
The sky drips
on their satisfaction
of consummation
and their sighs
of celebration
for coming
graduation.
I wrote this poem for my high school yearbook.
I dedicate this blog entry to the class of 2010.
* * * * *
They tell me this is graduation
These people all around us
As we stand in these gowns
Faces and hair immaculate
Smiling outwardly at our
Relatives and friends
While our insides shake
In terror
I wonder if the others are all
Remembering back, like me,
To grade one, and leaving
Elementary school, and
Fly-ups, and award receptions?
They can’t fool me,
This isn’t a graduation,
This is another beginning.
SLD June 6, 1982
(c) S. L. Bird
This year, I’m thinking that graduation is not only about beginnings, but that it is about victories. It’s about reaching the destination after a long journey.
It’s about many, many small victories. The smile from the secret crush. The pass on the exam you feared you’d fail. The lessons that stayed, the many that didn’t. The race you won, or just finished. The voice you thought would be silenced. The show that brought the house down. The dance that brought you close to ‘the one.’ The illness you battled. The A you earned.
Graduation is about achieving something extra-ordinary- the long awaited goal. Standing in your cap and gown you are celebrating what you have attained. It’s been a long road.
It’s scary though, because after every victory celebration there is the inevitable ‘What now?” For many, graduation is a milestone along a much longer educational journey. For others, this may be the end of formal education. Now what will you do?
Take the lessons you’ve learned forward with you. When you arrived at kindergarten for your first day thirteen years ago, you weren’t thinking about the day you’d graduate from high school, and yet here you are. You made it step by step and day by day. The rest of your life will unfold the same way. Every decision brings you a step further along your path.
Best wishes to all the grads of 2010. May each step of your life journey lead you to contentment. Be the best you, you can be!
Shawn L. Bird 