We began last week’s pre-spring break classes talking about secrets—under what circumstances it’s OK to keep them, if they change as we age, historically and culturally ‘famous’ examples, etc. That discussion readied us for reading Christina Rosetti’s “Winter: My Secret.” We thought about the ostensible speaker of the poem as well as its implied listener, looked at the various kinds of rhyme used, and finally mused on the ‘secret,’ which the speaker teases readers about without ever revealing. The students were then asked to write their own ‘secret’ poems.
Mrs. Rosenzweig, 4th Grade
Never Kept One Secret Yet
By Solen D.
I have never kept any secrets
Never to make me sneaky
Even though others want to know
Something I don’t have in my mind
I don’t keep secrets because I am shy
Some people are the type that are…
Rather mysterious
Some make secret rules with their friends
Others have their own secrets to
Keep to themselves
Everyone has their own personalities
Sneaky, mysterious, shy, happy, new to things
But everyone in the world has made a mistake
To keep secret. I have one secret kept in mind
But to many it is of the utmost importance
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
All of the days are possible for a secret
Maybe you can let yourself have 1 secret
every other year. All of the possibilities vary
It is up to you for your own secret
Secrets
By Gabriella D.
Secrets locked in me
Secrets like the sea
Secrets in the blue
Secrets hide from you
Secrets far upon
Secrets in the dawn
Secrets that are swell
Secrets you’ll never tell
Secrets I can’t trust
Secrets in the dust
Secrets you don’t need to know
Secrets that I will never show
Secrets too bad to discuss
Secrets that will hurt all of us
Secrets evil and sneaky
Secrets that are freaky
Secret Candy
By Gayatri G.
I tell my secret? No indeed, not I;
Perhaps some day, who knows?
Candy is bad for you they say
How much do they really know?
Have they ever been snowed by candy
Or Chocolate Cheerios
No one knows
I say candy is a part of this secret of mine
You’d say candy why candy
All it does is rot your teeth
And make you obese
I tell my dentist few days later
My dentist states my oh my candy?
No way, you should brush
The secret I’ve been hiding I must say
Candy tastes like hay
I don’t like candy
Now that you’ve found out
You must not tell anyone
Candy hasn’t been good for a while
My dentist was right all along
Candy is bad for you no
Matter what. As I start
Brushing I feel like crushing
Why should I have given up candy?
Candy is my secret like I really shouldn’t say
Don’t Tell
By Sydney H.
I was trusted not to tell
This is one secret, I will keep well.
I look out the window
At the long black limo.
As we settle in — all seven
We smiled, feeling like we were in heaven.
Mean Girl Ticket
A Broadway Play
She was surprised on her special day.
My sister Sophia’s 10th birthday
My Secret Spot
By Chelsea L.
I have a secret
Should I tell you
I probably shouldn’t
I have a secret
A secret place
To be exact
With sweets and snacks
With a big backpack
Filled with workbooks
And a little private nook
To have a look at a book
Clothes and a lot of shoes
Plus a spot where you can snooze
A bright special light
That makes me not fright
I’ll go there when I need to retreat
So hopefully my parents don’t find it and put me on the hot seat
Secrets and Lies
By Ella R.
Whispers you can hear,
Your shriveled up with fear.
Staring at you,
Glaring at you,
You feel inside your guts that they are stalking you,
Watching you.
You can’t take it anymore.
You know that something’s up,
“Times are getting tough” you say,
Hoping the misery will go away,
But secrets and lies,
Just make you wanna die.
You look at them in the eye,
Staring at them wide.
They stop talking and wonder,
If you caught them by surprise.
They realize what they have done,
They start to cry and run.
You realize that you have the power to making things a little less fun,
Then you figure out,
Who the rumors were really about.
You feel so bad,
So sad,
So mad.
So now you can see,
What has come to be,
Secrets and Lies aren’t just like cherry pie,
They turn you into what you can really be.
Secret Keeper
By Drake R.
The secret keeper keeps secrets all day.
He loves to play with his locket
who doesn’t know how to lock it.
Why would something be called
A locket when it doesn’t know how to lock it?
He locks his secret in his locket
That doesn’t know how to lock it.
If he has the secret in the locket
That doesn’t know how to lock it,
Won’t people be able to unlock it?
People never tried to unlock it
Because it is locked in the heart of him,
not the locket that doesn’t know how to lock it.
The Secret Poem
By Ryan Z.
How did you get here? How did you know? Whatever it is, we will never know. It’s a secret and you’re not allowed to say it, it’s confidential, and that’s a statement.
Secrets are special, the best of them all, only to be kept hidden from all of them all. They don’t need to be hidden, but the consequences that it gives is that it’s not top secret anymore. To be kept a secret follow these instructions:
1. Don’t tell anyone.
2. Keep it confidential.
3. Keep it a secret so no one will know.
These are secrets, the beauty of life, only to be kept secrets, with the proven chance that it might die. Secrets might be secret, you might can’t tell anyone, but everyone has one, and that my friend, is the way of life.
Mrs. Johnson, 4th Grade
“Party: My Secret”
By Kristen C.
It’s June, my birthday is
coming up soon.
I’ll be turning 12,
more things will be popping
up on my shelf.
I’m having a party on
June 14th. Not everybody
is going to be invited besides
ME.
Only 3 people can
be welcomed into my house.
I have 14 friends,
and they’re texting me now!
They’re saying…
It’s your birthday soon! Are you having
a party? I say no, but I really am going to.
I don’t tell them because I don’t
want them to feel sad. They
also might get mad! So instead,
I keep it a secret.
Before I know it,
they’ll be here in a minute.
There’s Sadie, Bailey, and Hailey!
I don’t know what to say.
If I tell my other friends,
they’ll feel betrayed!
BUT, I’ll have them over soon and we’ll
look at the moon.
Shh
By SaNiah C.
I have a secret
It is convenient
I fret that you will laugh
So I will only tell you half
Wait NO I will not
I will NOT tell you
Even if u brought
A yacht big shot
Anyway I changed my mind
Psych ha got em > v <
I will give you a hint
My secret is like a gem
Because it is so precious
And yes you’re probably jealous
Or live in Texas but if u do
Do I kind of feel bad for u
Texas chews that person up and spits them out leaving them to die
I Got A Secret
By Mateo F.
I got many secrets, such as why I am writing in Italics,
or why I am swimming in the winter.
I got many things I don’t want people to know
I need to keep it in because it’s private info
Top Secret, and undisclosed,
Trust me you don’t wanna know
Cause when you hear it you will just say whoah
Next time do not ask me about a secret.
You will be caught wondering
I will not tell you because it’s
Top Secret, and undisclosed,
Trust me you don’t wanna know
Cause when you hear it you will just say whoah.
My Secret?
By Anna M.
*TV turns on*
Everyday
I whisper something
And all around me
I hear
SECRETS
SECRETS
ARE NO FUN
SECRETS
SECRETS
HURT
SOMEONE
Do I look like
I am hurting someone?
Is it OK that I want to
Keep stuff to myself?
I mean like do I have
To tell everyone?
Oh you’re here
Reading this
Well I guess I have to
Tell you
What?
My secret
OK so here it goes…
*the channel changes*
You: AHHHGGH
Untitled
By George M.
Why keep it a secret it’s going to be found, the longer it’s in the bigger it gets, so don’t keep a secret someone will find out.
Untitled
By Sophie Q.
I have a little secret inside of me I cannot tell anyone or else I sneeze I need to be careful about this secret in me or no more candy to eat.
Mysterious Secret
By Elaine R. (my sister helped a bit with this too)
I’ll never tell my secret
It will always stay with me
Until I die my secret
Will never be free
My secret might be something
You can call a fantasy
My secret might be something
You can call a tragedy
My secret isn’t something you
Can hear or touch or see
You can never change my secret
It will always simply be
Mrs. Barnes, 4th Grade
Secret Stuff
By Zoeyah A.
Secret, secret, secret
Everyone has secrets
I love secrets!
I honestly don’t really like secrets.
Not because people don’t tell me
Because I don’t see the point
Anyway IDK
Bye!
Can’t Tell
By Raji S.
Do you want to know a secret
Well . . . Too bad you can’t know
And I can’t tell. So save us some
Time and STOP asking
OK OK I tell you my secret is . . .
Nana business, My secret is
Nana business! No matter what you say
To end the day this very day
I can’t tell and by now you
Probably know that very well.
Secret
By Kaylin W.
To me, a secret is something that you can’t tell other people.
But if you ask someone else then you might get a different answer.
Mr. O’Brien, 4th Grade
The Secret Poem
By Alex K.
Brrr it is cold. I will not tell my secret but maybe I will just maybe.
Now I will go to somewhere warm bye bye now. But before I go I have to tell you something there is one secret I have once just once I have broke my nail off
Untitled
By Reghan N.
She spent a life building walls then sat there in her lonely wondering why nothing grew.
The Secret
By Madeleine O.
I spilled the secret
please don’t tell
I trusted you
will you trust me too
???
