Help Us To Stand On Our Own

Andrew Bley, 11th Grade
Happy Camp High School, Happy Camp, CA
North State Region

There they sit, desperate and alone.
Their bodies are broken and their hearts are hopeless;
Despair is all they've ever known.

They're just like me in every way
With lives to live and games to play
They hope and dream and sing and pray.

But they are different from me still.

Why must things be this way?
Who can say. By a single simple chance of fate
Their lives will be forever changed.

These are the children of many pains.
Because of death no hope remains.
Their desperate heart no light contains.

But who are these people, you ask?

These are my peers; my friends;
My family. With broken homes and no place to go
Their pain refuses to relent.

They drown their sorrow in pills and drugs,
Join hands with thieves and crooks and thugs,
Release their pain by shooting slugs.

But on the inside their hearts are breaking.

They want to hope, they want to dream
They want to see a light agleam
Amidst the darkness that makes them scream.

They want a future, and I want it with them
We want success; we need ambition
To achieve our passions, this is our mission

Our home is poor and destitute,
And this is why I come to you
For help, for if you only knew
The things we here have all been through
Then you would lend a helping hand,
To help us on our own feet stand.

So now I ask please hear my cry
Please help us stand, please help us fly
We do not ask that much of you
Except to do what you can do
To give us hope, give us a chance
To help us in this world advance

A spot in college is what we need
So please I ask save us a seat.
On behalf of all my peers and I,
I ask you - give us the chance to try.