On June the 7th 1996, I was sitting in my English class in 9th grade. Our assignment was to write a poem about our ideas of “The Ideal World”. Our teacher informed us that we only had 10 minutes to come up with something and that we should probably not attempt to make it rhyme because we had a limited amount of time, and probably wouldn’t be able to come up with anything brilliant during that time (according to her). I didn’t listen (as I often don’t), and decided to write a poem that rhymed, with however much time I actually had.
As I was packing up things for our upcoming move, I found this poem on a small piece of paper and decided to share it with you.
The Ideal World
The Ideal world is a place where no one is afraid to be,
The grass is green, the sky is blue;
I run through the fields, it’s utterly true,
I can’t think of anything better to do;
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I smell the flowers and see the bees;
and after all, I’m near the seas;
I love the country and see the trees;
Is there anywhere else you’d rather be?
The people are nice, the children are free,
do you agree with me?
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How sweet it is the smell of Summer;
let us all go there or it’ll be a bummer;
To live somewhere where there is no smog;
remembering the city would only be a fog;
So do you see what the ideal world could be?
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Close your eyes and concentrate;
then maybe we can penetrate;
into a world without crime;
where we won’t have to worry about the grime;
Do you see what this ideal world could be?
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Go to that place every time you feel low;
don’t be afraid to let the images flow;
Close your eyes and open up your heart;
don’t worry about falling apart;
the world is at your finger tips;
just say the words on your lips;
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You will drift to a place far, far away;
don’t think about city life, or you might just want to stay.
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Needless to say, I got a good grade on that paper, and when I read it aloud to the class, they were all shocked with what I was able to come up with in such a short amount of time. And I was actually in shock myself. At that point, I realized that writing would become a huge part of my life…
