To Love and To Lose
San Jose, CA
2024, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
The cold shards of diamond glistened in the air and landed on my carefully bundled head
My smile flooded the sky and earth
Nature itself couldn’t have competed with me
A whirlwind, a small flurry of joy
The laughter of the families around me carried me above the clouds where
the sun glowed warmly, welcoming me into his domain
I wanted to build a snowman
I had an urge to shape a life, to make a friend, to do something with the small sparkles
That had never blessed my presence in my home miles from this place
(it had seemed like miles, it was just three hours)
Slowly a small lump of white forms
misshapen, lopsided
But i loved it
I loved it
My snowman, my child, my beautiful thing
I did not wish to leave him alone in the cold
He wouldn’t like it
I bit and kicked and fought as they took me away from him
We thundered by on the dark road that ripped a path through the soft cotton
That gathered gently along the edges of the very thing that destroyed it
But that was enough to plant a small seed of hope in my small heart
We returned eons later
To the very same spot at the very same day
It was just 4 years, but it was also 4 billion
And the snow
was
all
GONE
All that was left was the punishing, barren land
My fingers traced idle lines in the broken earth
It was dead silent
The sun avoided my gaze behind a cloud
The lines i had traced changed shape
Under my blurry gaze they shivered and shook and formed hateful words
This is all YOUR fault
My thoughts shattered
when my parents called me
“Why are you crying?” they asked
I shook my head and walked back to the pale white car
what else
could i
do?
Reflection
I love the snow. Some of my best childhood memories are built in my family’s trips to the nearest national park in the winter. We all bundle up and settle down for a long road trip. It’s cozy and heartwarming. But, as the years went on, I slowly saw the amount of snow in my favorite places decreasing. That was when I learned about global warming and climate change. I would sit down in school and listen to the teacher tell us about how temperatures are slowly rising. It didn’t really register in my mind until I saw the snow disappearing in real life with the increase in temperature from the greenhouse gases. I wanted to do something. I wanted to show the world the anguish I felt when I realized that our earth would never be the same again, and that all of this is due to our own activities on this planet. So, I wrote a poem. I hope that everyone will take the initiative to save our planet by decreasing the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by things like carpooling and changing their diets. It’s the small things that count! If we all pitch in, we can make a difference in our planet and make sure the generations after us can experience the joy and wonder of frozen crystals that fall from the sky.