Tuesday, April 24, 2012

As I Grew Older

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun--
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky--
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!
Langston Hughes

This weekend as I was reading through one of my many poetry books, I stumbled across the As I Grew Older poem by Langston Hughes. What better poem to read in the midst of being only a month away from graduation? Although Hughes poem was probably written in a different sense and for a different purpose, I took it as a constant reminder that you can never dream and dream to large. With the conclusion of high school creeping upon us in only week’s time, the side effects of Senioritis has surely set in among many of us. Although many of us are eager for that next step after LOHS, there are still those days which it seems like the day will never come. As I Grew Older is a reminder to me that even though the day is almost here, never lose sight of what it is you want to do. It is never too late to dream and to reach that dream if you truly go after it. There will surly be “walls” along the way, but the satisfaction of achievement is so much greater.


-Jasmine C

3 comments:

  1. I thought the same thing as I was reading your poem. I feel like as we are reaching these last few weeks, us seniors are starting to realize that this is really it and that graduation is right around the corner. For those of us that senioritis got the best of are trying to climb out of that darkness and reach our goal!
    -Secada C.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Quick question, is the text of the poem supposed to be in that shade of gray? Because it's completely unreadable due to the black background. I don't really like poems in general, and since in general includes poems I do like, the average poem is actually more disliked than poems in general. So i will decline to comment on the poem itself. Unfortunately, my comphrehension fails me in reading your post aswell, so I guess the only pertinent point I have is that of the text's coloring.

    K. Lin

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here is a copy of the poem. Not sure why it posted in gray

    It was a long time ago.
    I have almost forgotten my dream.
    But it was there then,
    In front of me,
    Bright like a sun--
    My dream.
    And then the wall rose,
    Rose slowly,
    Slowly,
    Between me and my dream.
    Rose until it touched the sky--
    The wall.
    Shadow.
    I am black.
    I lie down in the shadow.
    No longer the light of my dream before me,
    Above me.
    Only the thick wall.
    Only the shadow.
    My hands!
    My dark hands!
    Break through the wall!
    Find my dream!
    Help me to shatter this darkness,
    To smash this night,
    To break this shadow
    Into a thousand lights of sun,
    Into a thousand whirling dreams
    Of sun!

    -Jasmine C

    ReplyDelete