Building Walls

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This week’s Young Writers Project piece is a poem and
podcast by Sarah Wells, a sophomore at U-32 High School. She writes about goals
that seem out of reach, and the barriers we construct to avoid getting hurt or
disappointed. She comes to the conclusion that if we step back and take a
moment to truly look at the situation, we can often find a way to climb those
invisible walls.

For more great student writing go to youngwritersproject.org

 

I saw you
across the way that day back in summer.
You looked up and smiled at me and my feet began to
float forward.
Moving my feet through the grass, I saw bricks begin
to block my path bit by bit.
My heart leapt with panic and I began to run toward
you.
As I ran a seam in the sky tore and rain poured down
on me,
ripping holes in my conviction.
Doubt began to seep in and my heart grew heavier,
slowing my pace.
The distance remained no matter the steps I took
through the rain.
The wall kept growing.
Soon I began to doubt I’d seen you at all,
that it all was a cruel trick of the mind.
I stood in the wet grass and peered through the
sheets of worry.
In the haze I thought I saw your shape.
It was only just a shadow but that was enough for me.
The wall grew to waist level and I found myself
finally blocked.
I searched for the shadow,
I searched for the boy who smiled.
If only I realized I could climb the wall,
the wall I’d made.
I would see you waiting for me just across the way.

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