Silence

We were suppose to be silent.

Kids poured out of classrooms

Their mouths still moving,

Chatter fills the room.

 

Talking

Talking about why and for what.

Why are we doing this?

This is stupid,

Why are people talking?

People should stop talking.

 

We march

Through the doors to outside.

Outside is covered in snow

Reflecting the sun into one’s eyes.

Kids still talk

When will they stop?

 

Line up

They tell us to line up.

Thoughts move through our heads.

Looking at each other’s faces

Trying to figure out if your thoughts are mine,

If my thoughts are yours.

 

I keep thinking

This feels big.

It holds weight, I can feel it.

Pressure on my shoulders.

Not a burden to carry,

But a gift to receive.

 

Hold hands

We all join hands, strangers, friends, enemies.

United by this cause, whatever the cause may be.

To skip class, to make a stance, to complain,

To be gifted with this burden.

 

We are united

Each one of us now united with this same burden,

With this same gift.

The gift of this moment that we each wonder

What will become of this?

What is next?

 

Silence

Now it is silent

I look around to once again read their thoughts.

Are they the same as mine?

This feels big.

 

The balloons

Now the silence is interrupted by clicking.

It’s a camera,

Capturing this moment in time.

Makes me wonder,

Is this all for show? Is it all a show.

This feels big.

 

We watch

The balloons are released to the sky.

They float away.

I should feel free

For some reason I don’t.

Maybe it is because of the clicking.

 

Each balloon

Floats away in its own direction.

Let’s the wind take them

Wherever they choose to be.

Is it the wind moving them?

Or are they pushed by their own desire?

 

I wonder

What is this symbolizing?

Should I be reflecting

On my life up until this very moment?

Where should I go now.

 

Am I being pushed by my own desire,

In the direction of my choosing?

Or am I being pulled by a force of nature.

 

Each decision is mine

I can choose to let the wind pull me,

Or move myself in the direction I want to go.

I want to go

 

I want to keep moving,

And change the way things are.

I can make a difference somehow,

But only if I choose my own direction.

 

Some balloons

Get stuck in the trees.

They will stay there now,

Until they fall down.

 

The others

Move out of my sight,

They’re way off into the distance.

I won’t know if they are alright.

 

After

We go back inside.

The day continues on like normal.

No one talks about their thoughts,

But I know that we are changed now.

This was big

Because we chose to make it big.