See you at the crossroads

Michael Dom

Gordon Secondary School graduation poem for Year 12’s November 1996

At the end of Grade Twelve

Two years seems

Just as long a time as four

And the memories just as sweet

The days went by

In periods long and short

Interesting and exciting

Boring and dreary

Sleepy or alert           

And we learned a lot

Not all our lessons were academic

And some things

More important than math

What have I understood at the end of it all?

The World is a wide but small place

With room for everyone

But you’ve got to push to get in

Your education can mean everything

Or nothing

And friends aren’t always

Those who laugh with you

So we’ve reached a crossroads

Where paths divide

For a while we enjoyed the freeway together

But now we’re on to wilder roads

With no U-Turns or roundabouts

And a hell of a lot of potholes

Perhaps some will pick up passengers on the way

The kind that stay

But all speculation is without strength

Because if the future’s dark

You can’t see far enough

And if it’s bright

It hurts your eyes

To look for too long

So just keep your eyes on the road

Because if you miss a turn

There’s too much traffic on this one way street

To turn back

I won’t say goodbye

Just farewell

Because we may meet again

At another crossroads               

Who knows where?

Who knows when?