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Another facet of my character

Another facet of my character is that I'm a poet. I did my Senior Project on the characteristics of good poetry, and I enjoy reading and writing poetry. This poem was written sitting in front of my locker at the small Christian high school I attended. Actually, I'd already graduated when it was written, but I was early picking my little bro up from school. My graduating class had, I think, thirty students. Yeah, small.

I feel I should remove my shoes,
standing in this now-hallowed hallway
That I have walked these last
Four years: have laughed and cried, have
Learned and loved, and now am leaving.

So much has changed: the carpet's color,
Faces, friends: myself most of all.
I see myself, exuberant freshman,
Running to my locker (no. 57), mere
Feet from where I sit: but light-years ago.

I hear my classmates' conversations echoing:
I recognize each individual's laugh. I know
Their voices, and they know mine:
That�s community, like it or not.

Other voices I hear too: the teachers
Lecturing, praying, joking, listening.
(Make no mistake: you can hear it when
Someone's truly listening to you. I know,
as does every graduate of this school.)
And all of them dispensing wisdom
In a way beyond their years: for they
Are full of life, energetic, passionate.

I have done so much here, have learned
So much, have grown so much. Of all
the million graduates this year,
I feel I am most blessed.

Thank you.