About the Young Writers Project
YWP, an independent nonprofit based in Burlington, Vermont, engages young people to write and use digital media to express themselves with clarity and power and to gain confidence and skills for the workplace and life. YWP publishes about 1,000 students’ work each year here, in newspapers across Vermont, on Vermont Public Radio and in YWP’s monthly digital magazine, The Voice. Since 2006, it has offered young people a place to write, explore and connect online at youngwritersproject.org, which has only one rule: Be respectful. For more information, please contact YWP executive director Geoffrey Gevalt at ggevalt@youngwritersproject.org.
This piece is by Ella Staats, a freshman at Burlington High School.
Wherever You Are
By Ella Staats
Wherever you are,
I hope you’re happy.
I hope your life has come together,
that your mind isn’t so cluttered,
that you’ve sorted through
the layers of yourself
and decided which ones are worth keeping.
Wherever you are,
I hope it’s peaceful.
I hope you wake each morning
knowing the hours are long
and the day is even longer,
and that the land is kind,
and the world is waiting for you.
Wherever you are,
I hope it’s warm.
I hope the sun spills over your shoulders,
and the breeze flutters your hair;
that the earth radiates warmth,
and the sky is the kind of blue
that makes everything okay.
Wherever you are,
I hope it’s better.
I hope you’ve found yourself
and everything else you were searching for,
although I never quite figured out
what that could be
because it seems like you had it all.
Wherever you are,
I still hope you’ll come back.
