Author’s Note:
I wrote this in my 8th grade year. It was for my 8th grade poetry folder. There is no rhyme scheme or pattern to it. This one is also dedicated to a boy who was in my homeroom/my class named Ariel Villanueva (See The Sun Came Up). I sat next to him in two classes and though I didn’t know him very well, he was always nice to me. I miss him, though I’m sure I can’t even begin to imagine the pain that the people who knew him well went through, including my English teacher whom assigned the poetry folder. She read this one to the class as well, knowing exactly who this was for. We all went through a rough time after Ariel died. I hope he knows that even those of us who didn’t know him well still think of him from time to time. It’s been four years since he’s left us. May he R.I.P. (rest in paradise)

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I heard the laughter
Amidst the friendly conversations.
I saw the joy
On everyone’s face.
But I felt the pain
In everyone’s heart.
I tasted the denial
In the air.
After forgetting the sadness
For just a moment,
I remembered that this was a time
That no one had expected.
A time for grieving.
But I knew that
Our memories of him could never bring him back.
And I also knew that he
Wouldn’t wish for us to dwell in the past.
Then, after that one moment,
When I heard the laughter and joy again,
I thought to myself,
“Give it a chance, and peace will come once more.”
And it will.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow.
But it will.
And when it does, he knows that,
Though we’ll finally be at peace with what has happened,
We will never forget him,
And all that he has done for us.

In loving memory of Ariel Villanueva

-2004 (year)