If there was one poem or piece of prose that has change my life, it has to be this one. This is a poem written by one of my teachers in school. There is something about this poem that is magical, and I've refused to share it with anyone till today!
The poem was written for the 'farewell' that our school organised for the batch of tenth graders who were leaving. Although this poem was written for the batch senior to us, I think the poem is for anyone, who is refusing to let go of the innocence called childhood...
"We have lived here and learnt,
And we have dreamt,
and because we have been young,
We have dreamt of fantastic possibilities
and of impossible things;
and it is in our innocence that
we have believed in them
Now, it's almost time to grow up.
and even as we grow, we will learn;
and as we learn, they might tell us
that what we had thought was wrong
Then we have to decide...
Whether we wish to grow out of our childhood
or we wish to grow up to it
Let us never learn so much,
that we unlearn the joys of wonderment and dreams,
Let us never be so afraid to do what we think is right
and let us always be willing to put all our earnings
for a handful of stardust.
Because we were born as children of God,
and it is to this that we need to grow up to
Let us never forget what we knew so well when we were young
And someday, let us all grow up,
to find once again,
the child in us."
- Siddhartha Kanungo