Black thin meshed robes cover me from head to toe, leaving me basking in the hot sunlight that burns me slowly and invisibly.
I’m flying down the flagged rainbow that sneaks past the stage, along the brown and blue banners that I called home for the past 4 years.
Matching my glasses, I slowly ease my way into the seats that will be the last time I stand as an undergraduate, a man without a purpose, without poise, without profession.
It’s been an amazing sun filled hill, sliding up and down its slope with the grace that my own two feet can bring. Up and down with my spirit, rising and falling day in and day out.
I enjoyed the smell of the grass in the spring, when I climbed up to enjoy the cloudless views of the Boston skyline up above a building where I took to be my third home.
Tufts has always been my home away from home, where I have lived to my potential and exercised what the future held for me.
Through it all, the hill stood there to support me, to see me roll down like a bullet-ridden log, and to climb its steps like a ladder to nowhere in particular.
The hat that covers my forehead, and runs small around my pinnacle slides into place and slowly the past 4 years have seized to be a blur, a shadow of my past.
They have morphed into my present, into something that is a part of the new me, the new man who stands here listening to the Stars Spangled Banner wave high and bright among the crowd.
Joining in the chorus is the occasional reminder in my head that this was all worth it, all a part of the learning experience that I will begin to recognize as I mature.
It was my turn now, and hearing my name read gave me the butterflies; all the hard work, cancelled trips and parties, all to walk this stage with honors.
For the first time in a long time, I was proud of myself for getting here. This was my moment, it was meant for me to cherish and remember. The weight was lifted.
I felt liberated of expectations, most of them ones I created myself, as though all I had to do now was own up to my success, grab it by the neck, and put it in my heart.
It felt weird to be done. To be let go into the real world when it felt like I had just started feeling independent.
And I’m glad it is all over. And it is a giant step forward for everyone involved.
POETRY 