You Poem by Dyhanara Rios

(Honorable Mention at Northside ISD's May Day Poetry Contest 2011 and 3rd Place (High School division) in Future Poets of Texas - San Antonio Poetry Fair 2011)

You – you will march up these cold, concrete stairs
And accept a hundred some-odd green-with-envy glares
With a smile and a turned cheek,
Just trying to get through the week.
You – you’ll turn the volume up higher
On your music player and drown out the world.
You – you are the ruler of the city of your mind
But what a pity you couldn’t find a slayer of the solitude.

But when you looked,
The sun peeked through the windows and the blinds
And you were hooked to the notion that
Someone answered your prayer for a better day.
Someone answered your prayer;
Now you can get through the day.

Who knows why the sun reminds you
To have hope in everything
Through the songs you sing
And the poems you write
And the one who inspired you
Not to give up your fight.

Any fool can march up these cold, concrete stairs,
But you – you’re learning to do it in style with a smile.