A letter to a boy
Dear boy,
We’ve been friends for a while now
And I find it weird to think about
How we used to be,
What we were like when we
Very first met.
I’ve always admired you.
I’ve always looked up to you
In more ways than the obvious
But I suppose in different ways
Now.
I used to see you as this greater being
Who was something I could never be.
You were always slightly out of reach.
Even now I sometimes feel disbelief
Because it seems crazy to be able to call you a close friend.
But as I got to know you,
You morphed into a person who is not different
But just more real.
It reminded me that you too
Are just a person.
Just like me.
Just like everyone else.
I still admire you to this day
But I don’t know if I could give you a list of reasons
Because,
My admiration and love simply comes from
An appreciation for every part of your existence.
I am proud
To have been able to see the things you’ve accomplished
And how you’ve grown and flourished.
Once you were a stranger on a pedestal
With your face shining in the sun
While I was forced to squint as I looked up at you.
But now,
I don’t want to say you’ve come down from your pedestal
Because you still fully deserve to be there,
But it’s more that I have now realised
That I too
Deserve to stand on a pedestal
And I’ve climbed the stairs to you.
I look around at all the people.
All the tiny people on the ground
Looking up,
Wishing they could be where we stand and
I shout to them:
“Climb the stairs!”
“Can’t you see the stairs?”
But they don’t hear me.
We are just unknowns to them.
Just strangers on pedestals.
I suppose the lesson in this is that
You should never think anyone is
Too good for you
Or that you don’t deserve them
Because we are all
Just people.
I want you to remember that.
And I sometimes think that perhaps your reality
Is different from mine
And that perhaps you see yourself
As just one of the little people
But I want you to know that you are definitely
One of the pedestal people
Who glow in the sun
And I just hope
You surround yourself with those
Who see you in that way
(and I hope I am always one of them)
I’ll make sure you do.
I’ll keep an eye on them
(and I’ll always hold onto you).
I’ll be watching from my pedestal.
Love,
Lauren.
The world upon my pedestal
They might not think that to stand on a pedestal
Is the ideal place to be.
They might not think I have enough
Room to even move my feet.
But while they are just little people
They will never know this magic.
For there is a whole world up here.
My head is in the clouds and
I don’t have to worry about it.
I can float
And I can fly.
I no longer feel the need to dig my toes into concrete
Even though that’s what they all seem to do.
Because they are afraid of change
And afraid of new
But the concrete around their toes
Holds them among the same
And the easy
Just doing what all the others do.
But up on my pedestal,
I don’t have to feel like I am confined to only one atmosphere.
I can see hundreds of tiny planets
Of possibility
That I can reach with just one leap,
Because I’ve already done the hard work
Of climbing the stairs.
Perhaps that’s what they’re all really afraid of.
I can feel the sun more strongly
As it makes me feel I’m made of gold.
It lights up everything below me
And all above me that I might hold.
Sometimes the only thing we need to see more clearly
Is a little bit of height.
Lauren Kathleen 