TonganoxieMirror.com

This week's poet is Shari Paynter of Tonganoxie.

"In honor of graduations coming up, I thought it would be nice to submit the poem I wrote for my niece, Brooke," Paynter wrote.

Brooke Theno graduated from Basehor-Linwood High School in 2006 and is now attending Hutchinson Community College, where she is majoring in fire science.

A Graduation Poem for My Niece Brooke

Where are you going dear Brooke?

Don't hurry away so fast

I'm not going to let you off the hook

But this evening is upon us at last.

Forgive me for all the tears

That slip quietly down my face

For I'm thinking back over the years

To some other time and place.

I see through a nursery window

A baby girl with milk on her chin

Bright eyes shining with a glow

So cute that I just have to grin.

How tenderly we watched you grow

Each step along the way

And thrilled at all the changes

That came with each passing day.

What greater joy in all this world

And oh what sadness too

The laughter, the mischief, the tantrums and tears

A girl growing up must go through

And then, all too quickly

So it seemed to me

The sweet little girl slipped away

Replaced by a young lady named Brookie.

The future unlike the past

Unfolds as we live each day

Its sorrow, its joys, its laughter and tears

Is a path each of us must take our own way.

For as you journey through the years

With friends and loved ones old and new

I will always be with you in my thoughts

And I will always be there to comfort you.



With food.

-- Shari Paynter