3
A Clear Step in Two
By Julia McBride
Grade 10
First Place Winner
I already saw the news show,
The new coup two days ago,
Dead almost three centuries ago.
A country in throes and–
August
A gust of wind speaks my name,
Srccchhhh my pen rips through paper
Aims right through inky words.
The light flickers.
Hey, kid!
You’re just like me!
Like who?
Has the dark of the night
Finally consumed my mind?
Frightfully, I look up
Dust dances in front
Of the figure.
Trust,
I am not just in your mind.
I am here, though not alive
What do you want from me?
Can’t a guy
Walk around his regular old haunts?
I suppose.
But I do have an important
Message for you.
What kind of presage is this?
A warning from the other side?
Who do I know who died?
Now, now, don’t close your eyes.
If you’ll allow me to say
One thing more.
A soul, so marked with charcoal
There’s not much spark left
Bereft, pell-mell
In everything it does.
No escape.
A shape,
In the dusty distance,
Headed for you to tell
You to change.
What?
This is about me?
You’ve come to talk as a banshee,
To no degree you stop.
But I know who you are sir.
Inhale, a stare down.
I can’t fathom
How a phantom like you
Has no clue
What his self destructive tendencies
Tend to do.
And with that strong of an ego
Thinkin that you’re topshelf.
The best of the best.
A ghost like you in my room
Going boom!
With his knows and his prose.
No–
Kid! You should hear yourself
This is my warning to you,
Exactly what you speak of.
I may be an antique,
But you misspeak.
You’re tongue in cheek!
Really, me?
I paid for where my words landed me!
And there I am,
Branded with death,
Before I could take my first breath.
He nicked me out young,
And those among me.
It stung, kid.
Life wrung out in front of your face.
I clung to any scrap I could
While the storm raged.
This is going nowhere, sir.
Because you refuse my help
Just listen to me.
You speak incomprehensibly.
I am not just an entity
For you to rebuke.
But you’re dead!
Have been for the past
Two hundred seventeen years.
It’s a wonder isn’t it?
How times moves on
When you’re gone.
Sure, sir.
Per my last request in life,
I must confer with you.
I demur, sir!
But why,
You have everything to lose,
While I already have.
Take a cent of sense from me.
The one who didn’t learn
The right things when.
My lesson was too late,
Death heading for my ribcage.
But you,
You have your full life
In front of your face,
Why demur?
Spur on life,
Don’t just sit back
And watch the other’s backs
As they stir on revolution.
But they’re wrong!
Then be in the right.
Heavy breaths exhale,
I should just bail,
Failure too close
To show the world
The wrong.
Except then,
Where would you go?
The air’s stale,
Chair barren in the corner
No writing to spare any glares away.
You say prayers,
Yet you have total control over yourself.
What’s your goal?
To help.
That’s all.
Know-it-all.
You know little, kid.
Yes, I may have been
A little cocky when I was alive,
And well,
It doesn’t turn out well.
To claim knowledge over all.
I don’t, though.
Your mind,
It switches, confined,
From one idea
And opinion
To the next.
As fast as lightning.
You’re mind’s a storm, kid.
It’s time to settle it.
A sigh, slumped in a chair.
How?
Focus now,
And slow down.
You need a less
Dark direction,
Dig deep for a draft,
To settle this storm–
Clear this swarm.
But what if I’m scared?
That shows that you care,
Give yourself some credit, kid.
And don’t listen to the scum
Inside and out.
But it’ll take so much time,
To clear this doubt.
I feel like I’m in a drought,
This disastrous dust,
Just to dread the damage.
You’re thinking too fast,
Too far into the future,
That now is the past.
I don’t mean to,
It’s just second nature.
When I was in the legislature,
I did the same thing.
I wanted so bad to help
That I didn’t think who I hurt In my way.
Weigh the pros and cons,
You have a say in what
You say.
I think I need a minute, sir.
Take your time but,
Beware that there’s a limit.
I’m talking to a ghost!
I don’t mean to boast,
But you should make the most
Out of my time here with you.
I can’t stay.
Okay.
If I may,
Sure, what are you going to say?
One conversation can’t change a life.
The length of this strife
Will never end.
You still don’t have enough equipment
Equipped to expand and explore
Neverending until the afterlife.
So with my words to you then and soon,
Let that typhoon wash over you;
That bittersweet symphony
Resilient, resonant, rhythmic.
Is that it?
Are you going to end it like that?
I don’t want you to go, sir.
I have ample time left, kid.
Take my words in.
Let it sink in.
A quiet pause.
Amid the silence,
With jaws clenched,
Dust shimmering through
The transparent figure before
Me.
I rub my eyes.
Uptown is unusually quiet
For this time of night.
How long do I have to wait?
Don’t isolate yourself,
Orchestrate what comes to mind whenever.
Don’t wait until the wild white winter wind,
Blows away your final chances.
A clear path will be made
When you take that first step.
Take it from me kid,
For every step you take,
Two more will be set out for you.
Go through, even if it seems difficult.
What about my soul?
You said it was pell-mell,
As dark as charcoal, sir.
It has lightened since.
As a litterateur,
The symbolism here
Must be clear to you.
I suppose so.
How is it?
The being dead and all?
I’m certainly glad to see all
My friends that I missed.
Even the ones I wanted to maul.
Hah.
Though I do find myself
Missing the feel of
A quill in my deft
Fingers.
The smell of fresh ink
Turned into a work of words.
Crisp parchment begging
To be useful.
I have had so many ideas
In the years I led
Since that day I bled.
I look up at him.
You’re the first person
I admitted that to.
He takes a deep breath in.
I didn’t know ghosts had to breathe.
He stares back at me,
Before speaking once more.
Please remember my words,
They are all I have left.
Things still haunt me
From my past.
The things I wanted.
But dying shows a clearer picture.
Material things gain you little,
They’re not forever.
I don’t know what
I should take out of this.
Whatever you can.
I may talk a lot,
But listening is just as valuable.
Take that out of this.
I nod to his
Translucent form, relucent.
He’s still here.
If you will let me,
I’m not done yet.
Of course, sir.
My life was a blur,
I didn’t stop,
I concur.
But now,
I can’t find myself
To be angry.
Sure, I may have
Plowed through life,
Speaking vows saying thou
Like pow!
Thank you for
Giving me a chance
To speak my final truth.
To finally lay me weary soul
To rest with hope
To a new future.
To you.
The thanks are all mine, sir.
Dust dissipates,
Ghost no more.
I can’t say for sure If he’s moved on
Or if it was just
One too many a late night.
But now I find myself here.
Standing tall and proud.
His first and final words
Ringing through my ears
Like the liberty bell,
Crack and all.
I finally took a clear step, In two.