Day 7: Modern Verse
One poem that really speaks to me is “As I Grew Older,” by Langston Hughes. This poem has a great message about overcoming hardships to achieve a goal. This relates to me personally, because I have always wanted to follow in my family’s footsteps and go into the medical field. However, as I get older, I find that there are more and more obstacles and challenges. In the poem, these obstacles are portrayed as a large wall. However like the narrator does in the poem, I hope I am able to break through this wall and achieve my goal, like it is a shining light.
It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun—
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky—
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!
