Alma Maters Nourish More than Mind
Alma maters nourish more than mind:
Light within illuminates the whole,
Making one of multitudes combined,
Allowing each the passion of its soul.
Maybe we'll forget much that we've learned
As we narrow to a single road.
The powers we were given we have earned,
Ever the way blessings are bestowed,
Riches not retained until returned.
Friends in High School Are Forever Young
Friends in high school are forever young.
Unchanged, they're where you always will belong.
The crowd is never gone, the pleasure stays,
The music of the moment always plays,
The time remains a field of wistful grace
To which you may return from anyplace.
Of course, you may still know them later on
When you are someone else and years have run;
And you may love them dearly, and they you,
But time must make their friendship something new.
Meanwhile, flourishing within your heart
There is a whole, of which you were a part:
A group of friends, one in love and pain,
In whom your longing comes alive again.
Give Me My Degree and Let Me Go
Give me my degree and let me go!
Release me from this prison of the mind!
All I know is all I want to know,
Depending on the wisdom of the wind.
Unburden me of words and numbers, please!
Allow me to hang out and do my thing.
To learn best, I should best be at my ease,
In touch with what in life makes my heart sing.
Open up the world so I can see
No further than I need to be just me.
Graduates Become the Cover Story
Graduates become the cover story,
Representing all those still within;
As those who came before provide the glory
Determining how well one might begin.
Underneath the letters are the learners,
A class on whom the mantle now must fall,
Taken into custody as earners,
Each a new advertisement for all,
Serving as the institute writ small.
Graduation Is a Time
Graduation is a time
When our thoughts turn naturally
To vandalism, sex, and crime,
Now that we at last are free.
Our teachers think we're well prepared
To make decisions on our own;
But now, perhaps, they're running scared
As they listen to this poem.
Don't worry, folks, we aren't crazy,
Though sometimes we look that way;
Just annoyed, bored, and lazy
As we make it through the day.
So just like birds out of a cage
Or slaves set free from toil and pain,
We aim to try to act our age
And be for now a bit insane.
For life too soon will close its doors,
And then as we grow old in years
We'll teach our own kids to be bores,
But hopefully they'll stuff their ears
And do as we dream, not as we do,
Facing life a tad askew.
Graduation Ought Not Be an End
Graduation ought not be an end,
Replacing what within we might achieve.
After all, the good that we intend
Does much to serve the good that we receive.
Underneath the mask of a degree
A person must perform with just the skill,
The knowledge and the art that he or she
Internalized through pluck, hard work, and will.
On what we are will rest what we become,
Nor do we have much else to draw upon.
Graduation’s on a Mountaintop
Graduation’s on a mountaintop.
Rarely does one get a better view.
All that is in front of me is new.
Dreams fade into haze rather than stop.
Underneath are queasiness and fear
As familiar landscapes fall away.
The price of moving on is just that gray
Intensity that grips as new eyes near.
On me for just this moment all is grace:
Now I rest, and that sweet joy embrace.
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Each of Us Must Climb Our Separate Mountain
Each of us must climb our separate mountain
To reach at last our own extended view.
We can be no more than what we are,
Yet that is quite enough for us to do.
The world is far too great for comprehension,
And so we only know what we can know.
But given the abilities we're given,
That's still a long and weary way to go.
Yet on the way, how beautiful the moments!
How good it feels to have some skill or art!
How wonderful to pause in awestruck wonder
At what must fill the unsuspecting heart!
And so we're proud of each of you today
For all you've learned, and all you've tried to learn.
Knowledge brings the deepest satisfaction,
Not least because it's something that you earn.
Give Me Just This Moment, Please, Forever
Give me just this moment, please, forever.
Replicate it for me on demand.
As I flow unceasingly downriver,
Do not make me leave this day behind.
Understand my bittersweet confusion
As graduation crystallizes youth,
Tallying my treasures with precision,
Illuminating wistfully my wealth.
Out of all my moments pluck this one,
Nor let me lose its grace until I'm gone.
Goodbye, Dear Friend and Graduate
Goodbye, dear friend and graduate!
Our golden time is over now,
Our time of nothing more than time,
Days of simply being friends.
But I will always treasure how
Your love for me slipped into mine,
Embracing me where courage ends.
Graduation Is a Time
Graduation is a time
For feeling very proud,
For thinking lots of lovely thoughts
And saying them out loud.
It's a time for feeling love
About to overflow,
And just before it leaps its banks,
To let the loved one know.
And so I'm very proud of you
For being who you are,
For making something of yourself,
For making it this far.
I'm proud because I am a part
Of everything you do.
This time's the time to say how much
In love I am with you.
(Note: Parents can simply change "I" to "we," and change the last line to, "Love we have for you.")
Graduation Isn't Gradual
Graduation isn't gradual.
In fact it's quite abrupt, a sudden shock.
It's more like rushing towards a waterfall:
One moment we're afloat, and then we're not.
Sure, we see it coming up ahead,
The water roaring into the abyss.
We make a joke and look away instead,
Unable to acknowledge what this is.
And then the moment's past, and we're the same.
Everyone is smiling, sunny bright.
Someone kisses us and calls our name,
And then we think, well, everything's all right.
But life is like that: things get smashed inside,
And we don't even know it. Foolishly,
We think we're in it only for the ride,
Yet mourn for all that can no longer be.
Graduation’s Reason to Rejoice
Graduation’s reason to rejoice,
Remembering what lies beyond our ends.
And so yours gives occasion to my voice,
Delighting in the gift of being friends.
Underneath your pleasure is my pride,
As yours remains the rock on which I stand.
The window through which I can see inside
Is hung upon the mirror in your hand.
One cannot be one without the other,
Nor can we be ourselves without another.
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