Here and There

This is something I wrote back in 2007 when I was adjusting to college and being on my own for the first time. As graduation season concludes, I feel the following poem is only appropriate. Going off to college means being surrounded by an unfamiliar environment that is filled with so much potential. It means meeting new, interesting people who will make everything worthwhile. While both are wonderful and exciting, there is still a sense of loss for the life we’ve left behind.

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Should I stay, or should I go?

My present is Here. My past is There.

Here I find experience. There I find reassurance.

Two places. Two lives.

Which one really am I?

There familiarity kept me intact.

Here uncertainties helped me grow.

The ones I left I still love dearly.

The ones I’ll leave I will miss extremely.

Is there a place between this divide?

Where I can live between two lives?

I have a sincere eagerness for the going.

I have an earnest yearning for staying.

Dual living. Dual personality.

Decisions are not mine to make.

Here and There both I am.

Here and There both I’ll be.

In the middle between the past and the present

At the center between two worlds

Should I stay, or should I go?