The Journey

A community poem by the children of Bob Sweeney’s Camp H.O.P.E.

After a long time, I have come here.
It is a place full of feelings,
full of people and water.
It is a place full of children,
full of happiness, full of support and of bamboo.
But you are not here.

Along the way, I have felt sad,
I have felt angry, and I have felt comforted.
And when I did, I cried and walked away.
If the birds outside now could look into me
they would see sadness and confusion.
If the fish in the water could hear what I say,
I’d tell them, “Go away and leave me alone”.
I’d tell them, “I won’t eat you”.

Sometimes around other people I put on masks,
maybe the mask of happiness,
the mask of anger,
the mask of sadness,
the mask of braveness,
and sometimes the mask of craziness.
Beneath the mask I felt lonely,
I felt sad and I felt afraid.

Today the sky doesn’t seem the same.
Things are different,
like my mom.
Things change like clowns change

But sometimes I also feel good,
like when I’m by my grandmother and
when I’ve accomplished something
and also when somebody cheers me up.
Tomorrow or next week or next month,
There will be school, vacation, soccer
and the babies my rabbit will have
to look forward to.