Revealing the Past, Facing the Future | Teen Ink

Revealing the Past, Facing the Future

April 18, 2011
By myLovelyFather GOLD, Grand Rapids, Michigan
myLovelyFather GOLD, Grand Rapids, Michigan
17 articles 0 photos 55 comments

Favorite Quote:
And that's the thing about the future. It's unknown, unknowable, but before you know it, you're there.


Life. Happiness. Gone. In one gust of wind, one fierce blow of a dust cloud, it’s all gone. Death. Fear. They come flooding into the hearts of every child, every family as if it’s their home. Dust. Brushing the faces of every person, faces without hope. I feel for my children, wishing for nothing but to find their father and to reach safety. But that is what we all want and what we all know is just beyond reach.

But not the children. My boys hope for their father, hope for a life. “But Mommy,” my baby baby boy innocently declares, “we have a life. I’m here now, with you and big brother.” I want to tell him, to let him know that this is not life, not really, at least not the life we deserve. To tell him that we need a life without suffering, always peering out the window, awaiting the next storm to envelop us in darkness. But he’s just a child, so deserving of his ignorance and adolescence, and so I whisper, “You’re right, baby. But don’t you want a life with your daddy in it?” He can’t respond. They don’t know him, won’t ever know him. I peer at their tiny optimistic faces. Their eyes scream, “Or will we?” I can’t see the future, only God can pave our way. So I draw in the hope their faces generate in me and glance at the horizon as I wait for our dream of a new day to come.


The author's comments:
This was an essay I wrote inspired by a very familiar piece of artwork - Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California 1939. Unfortunately, I didn't win . . . but I was glad Mrs. B. (my teacher) selected to enter me.

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This article has 3 comments.


on Jun. 7 2011 at 5:45 pm
myLovelyFather GOLD, Grand Rapids, Michigan
17 articles 0 photos 55 comments

Favorite Quote:
And that's the thing about the future. It's unknown, unknowable, but before you know it, you're there.

thank you. that means a lot from someone like you ;)

Dark_Mind GOLD said...
on Jun. 7 2011 at 5:26 pm
Dark_Mind GOLD, Little Rock, Arkansas
11 articles 0 photos 67 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Sounds like a Personal Problem."

Wow...this is a really nice poem, it touches me...Love your writing 5/5

on May. 24 2011 at 11:07 am
myLovelyFather GOLD, Grand Rapids, Michigan
17 articles 0 photos 55 comments

Favorite Quote:
And that's the thing about the future. It's unknown, unknowable, but before you know it, you're there.

Comment:D? Please:)