“Search for Happiness”
By Mariah Doll
It started at just 13 years old.
Arguing with my parents, not doing what I was told.
School was even harder to be in than a home,
No matter how many friends I had, I always felt alone.
I knew I could find happiness, but it was just to hard.
The rejection from everyone felt like a shard...
In my heart...
In my everything.
There was no motivation, nope, none at all.
Which just made me feel worse, made me feel so small.
My whole world simply ended, right at a complete halt,
And of course, just like everything else, it was all my fault.
I was sick of feeling this way.
So I changed my life that day.
Don't know how, don't really remember when,
But that's the day my search began.
I would hit bumps, too many to say,
But I told myself I would not change my way.
I searched and searched, and searched some more,
Like I had never done before.
When I was about to give up,
Feeling like I was in a rut,
I found it.
It was me, me the whole time!
Just motivating myself at the sound of a chime.
I was so glad I found it, so glad I stayed,
So glad I decided to change that day.
"My name is Mariah Doll and I live in Lancaster. I am currently attending Southwest Tech in Fennimore and I am also taking classes with Nicolet, working on my Liberal Arts Transfer Program. When I have completed the two years of school here, I will be moving to Wheeling, Illinois, to attend Warsham Mortuary College for mortuary sciences. I have always loved writing and this is something that I came up with during my limited free time."
* * * * * * * * * *
"The Flag"
By Andy Beach
I hear a flag rippling in the breeze
standing proud on a distant hill
I seek to find it out
to stand before it today.
It wears its star proudly on its chest
for those who fought and died
Its stripes are stained with blood
and washed white with honor.
For this flag men fought and died
On a windy night if you listen
you can hear them cry
Truth, love, and honor, this is why we fight.
The flag that stands for freedom
was bought with a price so high
paid for with blood and tears
bought with heartache and pain.
Do you hear the flag rippling in the breeze?
Standing proud on a distant hill
when you look upon it remember it
this flag was born of sacrifice...
Don't dishonor it.
