The Butterfly/ La Farfalla

This was written in May of 2011, when I was in ninth grade. It's very hopeful and uplifting to me... it represents, to me, a light that is no longer in the distance but approaching with rapid speed. I was looking for a poem to capture my emotion lately, which is that of hope. Yes, I am feeling hope lately, which is odd, because my high school graduation is years away at the moment. :) It's ever so strange...
Maybe it's that I'm still listening to that lovely song from Les Choristes...
Anyway, I shall post the poem (it has two titles, one in Italian, because I didn't feel that 'The Butterfly' encompassed it well enough) and then some book recommendations:

If you ever thought to look at her, you’d never see her smile
She’s hiding all the laughter that’s been in her for a while
Why is that she has to hide her happiness with tears?
Why is that she has to hide her courage with false fears?
The road she’s walking down makes her want to run with joy
But she keeps her face downcast, each smile quick destroyed
Please let the world tell this young girl they want to see her eyes
They want to hear her laughter, she doesn’t need to hide
The dark corner was her shelter for those cold and brutal years
But the world is now waiting for her with open eyes and ears
I wish she wasn’t scared to run; I wish that she would fly
Because the girl described here is none other than I.

Is it good? It's a little childish sounding, I know, but I like it.
Anyway... I feel I've been reading quite a few excellent books lately. So I am going to make several recommendations here, which you are free to ignore, and a little description of each.

1. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente- Actually, read my review on Figment. And VOTE for it if you can.
2. The Thirteen Princess by Diane Something (I can't be bothered to go get the book and look it up)- a spinoff of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Just an absolutely wonderful world to escape into.
3. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith- I CANNOT RECOMMEND A BOOK MORE, except, well, a lot of books, but it's got a romance and I actually LIKED it, which is saying something for me. The narrator is so fantastic. It's set in the 1930s in this crumbling castle where this girl is living with her somewhat eccentric (but totally realistic) family. It is perfect. READ IT.

Well, I'm off to go work on my Procrastination Story instead of the Keoluvent Trilogy. I am already, within days of so painstakingly making my editing/writing schedule for the next three years, completely annihilating it. I vow to edit over winter break!
One last thing, because I may not update for a while (that'll be a tragedy for my legions of fans, right?): Happy Chanukah for those of you who are Jewish, Merry Christmas In a Few Days for those of you who are Christian, Happy Other-Holidays-that-I-don't-think-are-in-the-next-few-days-or-if-there-are-sorry to those of you who celebrate those, and Happy Winter! Winter is lovely. I think I'll post a post full of my wintry poems sometime soon.
Anywho. More some other time.

The Butterfly/ La Farfalla

A poem about a girl who is afraid to express herself

“If you ever thought to look at her, you’d never see her smile

She’s hiding all the laughter that’s been in her for a while.”

June 2011