The Last Day of School

When you have put in the all the final grades,
And cleaned the papers from your cluttered room;
You can watch as the year’s memory fades
As the potential of the summer blooms.
Will you ever remember this school house
When the key turns on last time in the lock,
And the neon hallway lights have been doused,
Ticking the last moments of the clock?
The next year, they will start it up again
With a new face there to greet the students,
And there might be some who recall a when
Where you were there, a part of those present.
It is a bittersweet kind of goodbye
When the time has come to go off and fly.

Saying Goodbye

This will be the last time I will come here
Because I do not see any return,
And now that I know that the end is near
To see it one last time, my heart does yearn.
I know I have walked down this path before,
But I still marvel at the sights to see,
They take me back to the places of yore
That will take from me a minimal fee.
But I know that a snapshot will not do
To capture the way this path makes me feel
Because when I look back at what I knew,
I will wonder if it was ever real.
I just need to enjoy it while I can,
Not worrying about some future plan.

Things I Do Not Want to Do Today

These things I do not want to do today:
Carry a stuffed backpack upon my back
In foreign airports as I make my way
To a tiny upright seat where I lack
The space needed to stretch out my long legs
Next to another giant of a man
Where we are in position to beg
For a little real estate where we can
Devour a barely edible meal
That was heated up an hour before
Or catch a smidge of sleep so we can feel
Capable of flight through the storms in store.

Or to leave your home, so I can go fly,
Having to hug out my final goodbye.

Departure

It is time for us to say our goodbyes
While standing in the middle of the road.
I laugh at how our time together flies,
And our time apart bears a heavy load.
As we stand at the gate for departures,
Me with my bag firmly in my hand,
To me, a stark revelation occurs:
These moments have a limited demand.
But I have to live with the choices made,
And engage within the fare thee well hug,
And though my emotions, right now, are frayed,
I pass it off with a casual shrug.
You may not think I saw the tear you shed,
‘Cause I was busy with my own instead.