POEM: Untitled Quote Poem

Today we wrote "quote poems," which basically means that students choose a famous-ish quote to repurpose as the first and last line of their own original poem. We recently read "So We'll Go No More A-Roving" by Lord Byron, so we talked a little bit then about why/how Bryon would borrow the lines of a Scottish folk song about a wandering, maidenhead-stealing "jolly beggar" to start of his own poem about how aging eventually forces all hard-partiers to slow down. (Bryon was 29 when we wrote this poem, so I am REALLY looking forward to this exciting stage in my life...)

In honor of Valentine's Day, the topic of the day was love, in its many forms (romantic, familial, disappointed, unrequited, joyous, even taco-based).

Mine is based off an Emily Dickinson line: "For love is immortality."

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For love is immortality--
A chance to be greater than
Our frail, weak bodies
An opportunity to make
A mark, a stain, a fingerprint
On the glass globe of universe.
We live in the memories of
    those we loved and
    those who loved us
And that love is passed from life to life--
A precious candle flame, cupped in trembling hands,
A blazing inferno whose skin-searing heat singes even from a distance
A glowing ember hidden under dusty, cold ashes, stubbornly refusing to go out--
For love is immortality.