More Poetry

Madeleine received her elementary school yearbook yesterday, and spent much of the afternoon perusing its pages.  She was especially taken by a poem posted on the first page, "Don't Quit" by John Greenleaf Whittier.  And because she's Madeleine, she was then inspired to write her OWN inspirational poem.

What Makes Me ME

Quarantine hit me harder than expected

I thought it might be fun, but I sure was wrong

All the things I loved are now neglected

And now here I am, ready to sing my own song

I thought my story would be pretty boring

Nothing would go wrong, but I’d still go on soaring

So if you can hear me right now, if you can hear my voice

Tell me what YOU want, because we all have a choice

I want quarantine to be gone

It’s going on for far too long!

I hate all this social distancing

When will I get back to swim practicing?

And when the memories flood

Right back into my head

I want to just cry

And sob

I can’t fly!

But I can

I just have to keep calm

I just have to stay positive

I just have to stay strong

So if I stay strong

And if I stay calm

And if I stay positive

And if I stay kind

I can help out the world

And the world can help me

And eventually

I’ll have made my change

And now I’m learning

That change is what makes me ME.

-Madeleine Rowe

Again, because she's Madeleine, she became extremely self-conscious and embarrassed by my effusive praise of her poem, so by the time I persuaded her to read it to Ethan, she had to do it like this:

We Rowes deal with praise so gracefully.