Try to Be

*A Throwback Thursday Poem

In a world filled with evil,

try to be righteous.

In a world filled with immorality,

try to be pure.

In a world filled with darkness,

try to be a light.

Background:

Here she is - my first poem! I think.

I remember beginning to write poems sometime in middle school - 6th grade? 7th grade? Who knows for sure and certain? I should. I don’t. *shrug

However, I have this little, leather bound journal in which I began recording my poems on *checks notes* Saturday, March 27, 2010, and, according to that journal, this poem is the very first and is from December 9, 2008. This is very possibly the date the poem was finished and not necessarily when I began writing, because I distinctly remember I would carry folded up poem ideas and works-in-progress in my jean pockets for days or weeks at a time. (Those poor, faded, beat-up pages. Sometimes the tired creases started to fall apart from how many times I would fold and unfold them to reread or edit.)

At a relatively young age, I did become obsessed with putting dates on any writing, so I have reason to believe that the dates I do have are, at the very least, good rough estimates. (Maybe the almost-mini-historian date record habit was a result of my love of rules (specifically rules that make sense) and the intense emphasis probably all our school teachers placed on making sure our papers had names and dates!)

If you enjoy reminiscing on childhood or love tracing patterns and growth like I do, keep an eye out for these. I would like to toss a Throwback Thursday poetry post into the mix every few weeks.

Wishing you goodness without end,

Jess