The Ups and Downs.

After that rough draft, I went down another track until an idea to do a sonnet hit me.

So, the second draft:

Compelled by love

is a river of gold,

alive and moving of its own accord

carrying us, pushing us to shores

we would never have gone by

by ourselves.

Imagine -

in arms that breathe and speak,

a million stars in one droplet,

drawn in by something we crave

something we spend all our lives looking for

only to give it away.

And the final Sectionals draft. I forgot to title it. I think I did a sonnet because writing free verse for Fine Arts is pretty much suicidal, in a literary sense.

Before me lies a fork within the road

Follow your heart became my childhood theme

Enforced by Big Bird, Blue's Clues, Frog and Toad.

Follow the money: family who seem

To care wish for me everything they lacked,

But I have seen no joy for all their years

Of wringing dollars from each day. They stacked

Their principles on poverty and tears.

I have a greater purpose than success

My eyes can see a higher road that leads

Into a kingdom girded by duress

And, promising no leisure, fills my needs.

All I've ever looked for I have found

Following God's love to higher ground.