Publications

Where’s Walden III

An anthology of works by the participants in the 2003 Where’s Walden? SummerWrite Day Camp for Children & Youth

Works by Bethyn Merrick-Nguyen

And She Would Never

And she would never forget it.

The swell of the icy cold sea, its churning, chaotic waves that flung themselves at the deck of the ferry. The salty spray that drenched her coat and stung her eyes. The wind blew her air wildly around her shoulders. There was no going back once you took that last step. That one last step would write her future in stone.

She felt her hands slipping on the slimy wet railings. Her feet were getting cramps from the awkward position she had put them in.

Did she fear death? No she did not, yet. A small spark of life still flickered in her. The urge to stay alive and well. The urge to live for happier times. But there were to be no more happier times.

A yellow butterfly flapped its sodden, limp wings by her cheek. The butterfly fought the salty, cold spray.

“But the butterfly is only fighting the inevitable,” she thought.

Yet her spark of life flashed. If the butterfly fought so hard for its life, couldn’t she come back over the railings and walk away, never to look back?

An undercurrent caught the butterfly and dashed its sorry body against the ferry walls. And the life flame that had burned so fiercely was as broken as the hopeful butterfly.

She stuck her foot out and jumped into the unforgiving sea. The sea took her body and continued to rage against gravity, as thunder rolled in and rain began to fall.

Soon the deck was a pond and the butterfly was washed away.

I Am

I am the small smooth pebble that works its way into your shoe.
I am the sleek, steady creature that follows you through the night.
I am the fast, high-flying bird that weaves and dives for its prey.
I am the sweet smelling breeze that gives life to a young lamb.
I am the wispy, thin cloud that blocks the sun from the hunter’s eyes.
I am and forever will be.

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