Thirteen Years

Will I ever see you again?

Will I ever walk along your corridors,
sit in your classrooms or dash across your fields?
Will my feet ever tread your tiled floors?
Will my fingers ever brush against your weary walls?
Will I get another chance to listen to your teachers
or wear the navy uniform with a heart full of pride?
Will I ever sing the school anthem from the bleachers?
Will my head ever be filled with thoughts of you again?

The walls have kept my secrets,
faithfully guarding them for thirteen years.
The mirrors have noted my every expression,
witnessing the best and the worst of my days.
The windows have captured each and every daydream;
The desks are imprinted with every doodle, every test.
The benches - oh, the scandals they have heard!
Every gossip story discussed on them on Monday mornings.
The classroom doors have seen me grow
from a scrawny, toothless, tomboyish little girl
into a beautiful, intelligent woman of eighteen.

These iron gates watched me enter thirteen years ago
and watch me leave as I graduate on this day.

~C♡