This is the little girl with September in her smile who wants nothing more than for her feet to grow wings

as she dances to fly her to somewhere without bounds.

This is the boy who resorts to hiding his Walt Whitman behind a comic book so people don't question the

light in his eyes.

These are the revolutionaries still waiting for their messiah. Who've yet to learn how to grab opportunity

by its earlobes and drag it to where they can beat as much out of it as possible.

These are the lost ones

Those who forget where they come from or where they're going

Those with sandpaper skin and voices that tell their lives with one syllable

To those who are lost

Here's my advice

Looking in unlikely places is where you'll most likely find adventure

And never leave home without a journal and pen

Because changing the world usually starts with an idea inked on paper

Walking along with your nose in a book is an excellent way to bump into someone doing the exact same

thing

If you stand in high places

You'll often feel what you think is the urge to jump

But more than that it's the urge to fall and see if you dreams will carry you off into the raspberry sorbet

sky or if they'll drop you like a lump of lead on the sidewalk broken and bleeding and wishing you'd

never dared to dream in the first place.

And if you want to preach, you don't need white robes and golden pedestals to do it right

Your heart will get broken sometimes

But when that happens all you have to do is put a hand on your chest and feel the pumping and pulsing

the humming and drumming the ticking and tocking of your clockwork heart as it pumps liquid life

through your veins telling you that it's okay if you need to eat an entire tub of ice cream

Everyone does now and then

Just remember,

You are who you pretend to be

So it's not a bad idea to make-believe you can turn your aspirations into dandelion fluff to grab hold of

and sail away into the unknown where they will come to rest to bloom and grow and lift you so high you

can touch the sun, round and golden as a dandelion blossom ...

Olivia Sica

Age 14, Grade 8

Kutztown Area Middle School

Kutztown Area School District