Part I · The High School Era (1992–1996)
It seemed an impossibility, almost like a dream.
Our ambitions pooled together, and formed a flowing stream.
We took strength from the growing waters and maintained our tact.
And even the might of tragedy could not abolish our pact.
Never surrender your hope.
Never let yourself fall.
Whenever life grows dim
Remember what you saw.
You are the unconquerable sea,
Without keel and endless.
From tidal shorelines to silent depths
You can do what’s right and best.
I swim in these waters of eternity,
Mile after mile through the silver waves,
And find success through tenacity
While pertinacity paves my way.
We led each new day with open minds,
Each of us with our reflections—
Contributions to the ever-growing oceans—
And even when the waves would not be parted,
We sailed the sea in unsinkable ships
And continued what we’d started.
When the time was right,
We looked at our past.
We knew we had finished;
We had won the fight.
We had crossed the sea
And reached the light.
But the water was still there
And would always be there,
As a reminder to where we had been,
What we had seen,
And what we had known.
Composed 1994–1995 · part of the Poems collection · authorship documented on the Provenance page.