Storymakers: Dear Carolyn

Storymakers: Dear Carolyn

By Kathleen
Eighth Grade
Odle Middle School
Kirkland, WA

Her story is one of tragedy,
In a time of joy, a calamity.
Although her time here was brief,
Her memory I shall keep.

Gently falling snow,
So lovely to behold.
In reality, it's sparkling innocence
Is simply a pretense.

Beneath the dancing flakes,
Ineffectual are the brakes
Of the driver filled with dread
For what lay ahead.

Youthful radiance glowing,
Yet she is so unknowing.
Behind her, a danger!
The skidding car of a stranger.

The tires' squealing,
Fills her with a new feeling.
Panic overwhelms her,
But the car only moves faster.

Then there is an impact,
A big resounding crash.
She crumples to the ground,
Not uttering a sound.

Ambulances come wailing,
So fast, so experienced, but unavailing.
No more does her heart beat,
Her stillness so complete.

Carolyn, did you know I held your hand?
But you never breathed again.
I had one burning hope,
But you never again woke.

We are just two small beings,
And in the great scheme of things
Are we invisible, do we matter?
Perhaps the former, perhaps the latter.

Did you leave without a care?
Just dissipating into the air?
Perhaps you had another desire:
To each day reach higher.

I won't soon leave you behind,
For you'll always be in my mind.
But one day I'll only remember
The happiness of our time together.

I have one last thing to say,
In the light of the new day.
Although I tell you this with a sigh,
Carolyn, until we meet again, good bye.

Storymakers: A Creative Challenge for Young Writers, is a program inviting students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades living in Washington State and British Columbia, Canada, to submit their own original creative writing pieces.