Students wrote elegies on lost people, places, things, and feelings.
Lesson Note: “…research reveals the role of elegy writing in acknowledging and nurturing ongoing bonds with lost loved ones.” – The Literature of Loss: Elegy Writing as a Therapeutic Strategy for Coping with Grief, by poet Judith Harris, British Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 2021.
Ms. Hernandez, 7th Grade
Broccoli
By Zoe N.
I still keep the same saber.
The one with the mustache on it.
I still think of you when I see a bunch of soda tabs.
I remember feeling awkward about asking to try
Taco Bell flavored sunflower seeds.
If anyone says modern and door in the same sentence I’ll
think of yours.
I remember you bringing the most random things to the club.
An oversized jersey,
A bunch of fake mustaches,
I can’t even remember them all.
I can barely remember your face.
I only remember being excited to wake up
Just to see you.
I only got the color fencing shoes I did so we could match.
I only went to the club every day I could so I could see you.
I find a piece of you in every song,
Every poem,
Every movie,
Every art piece.
I see you everywhere and yet
I don’t know when i’m gonna see you again.
Or if I ever will.
I try to
Call you off like
A bad habit.
My cold heart is finally melting.
Change my mind so much, it’s exhausting.
I still think bout’ that day out in Peoria.
julsie
By Niko W.
Sadness I have felt this many times before but have never really understood it. I was an innocent kid with sisters and a cat. A cat I felt hated me, but I still loved her. It tried to avoid me, and so it did, but I still kept trying. She would sometimes sit with me, calm as can be, as I looked out at the construction and Sears Tower.
Then one day I said goodbye one last time unknowingly this would be the last time I saw her. I got back and looked for Julsie and called for her then my parents told me the news that she was sick and they needed to put her down. I resented them for a week. I felt I had lost a part of me. I fell into a deep sorrow at that moment. I understood sadness. I got angry at life. I resented everything for a while. But then it changed. I understood life and knew she went to a better place. And I understood sadness is just reflection learning how to do better and you can use it to bring you down or to fuel you. Live for who you love or loved and succeed for them in the end that is what sadness is.
Mrs. McClain, 8th Grade
i lost a good friend
By Ivan G.
I had a soccer friend we were eally good friends but one day we had to move schools so then we had to move soccer teams and i haven’t seen him in 3 years one day in a soccer game i saw him and i found out-I talked to him 3 weeks ago and I now know he and I are gonna to the same high soccer team.
Mali
By Mariana V.O.
Días antes de cumplir 4 años tuve la mejor fiesta que pude tener. Todo lo que veía o sentía era felicidad, llega el momento del show de mi fiesta donde el mago me dio mi primer mascota, me dio una hermosa conejita blanca con manchas cafe claras, se que estaba muy pequeña pero tener de mascota a uno de mis animales favoritos lo sentí como un arcoiris.
Aun recuerdo lo mucho que me divertía buscándote mientras te escondidas, parecia que de verdad entendieras el juego y lo disfrutabas tanto como yo, me daba cuenta de eso al ver tus saltos con tanta felicidad. Yo solo queria estar contigo, senti que apesar de lo pequeña que estaba recuerdo cada momento como si fuera ayer.
Una mañana como cualquiera, mientras te daba tu zanahoria picada que tanto te gustaba escuchaba como crujian mientras lo comias, sin pensar qque ese iba a ser el ultimo dia juntos.
EN ese momento mi madre me llama, me asuste porque presenti que algo malo iba a pasar. Mi madre me dijo que no queria que estuvieras maas en la casa, aun sigo pensando el porque, nunca me lo dijo. Estaba tan triste que mi dia se apago, en la tarde tuve que ir junto a mi hermano para preguntar por la vereda en donde querian adoptar a esa linda conejita, pero no esperamos que pasara lo que paso. Ibamos en la casa de la esquina donde estaba la tienda mientras yo iba abrazada a ti porque te iba a extrañar demasiado, mi hermano me dijo que cuidado te soltara pero no le preste atencion. No fue mi intencion que me te deslizaras al lado de dos perros, los perros eran muy peligrosos y te hicieron daño hasta mas no dejarte sin aliento. me desgarre a llorar al verte en el piso, sentia que me iba a dar algo, era muy pequeña para entenderlo. me dejaste con un trauma, de solo ver un conejo me trae muchos recuerdos. pero aun asi amo a los conejos. siempre vas a ser la mejor mascota que tuve mi mali
TRANSLATION
Days before turning 4 I had the best party I could have. Everything I saw or felt was happiness, it is time for the show of my party where the magician gave me my first pet, he gave me a beautiful white bunny with clear coffee spots, I know he was very small but having a pet of my favorite animals I felt like an rainbow. I still remember how much I had fun looking for you while hiding, it seemed that you really understood the game and enjoyed it as much as I did, I realized that when I saw your jumps with such happiness. I just wanted to be with you, I felt that despite how little I remember every moment as if it were yesterday. One morning like anyone, while I gave you your chopped carrot that you liked listened to as a cru as a harass, without thinking that that was going to be the last day together. At that moment my mother calls me, she scared me because I presented that something bad was going to happen. My mother told me that I didn’t want you to be Maas at home, I’m still thinking why, he never told me. I was so sad that my day went out, in the afternoon I had to go with my brother to ask about the sidewalk where they wanted to adopt that beautiful bunny, but we do not expect what happened to happen. We were going in the corner house where the store was while I was hugging you because I was going to miss you too much, my brother told me that he would take care of you but did not pay attention. It was not my intention that you would slide next to two dogs, the dogs were very dangerous and they hurt you until they did not leave you breathless. I was going to cry when I saw you on the floor, I felt that I was going to give me something, I was very small to understand it. You left me with a trauma, just seeing a rabbit brings me many memories. But I still love rabbits. You are always going to be the best pet my mali
Ms. McClain, 8th Grade
Rocky
By Marko Milosevic
I remember his scent
A nice lavender from his shampoo
Him biting my ear.
When he left
Anger, Grief
Guilt.
I didnt do enough with him
His life was over when I thought it just started
Before I could do anything with him
Gone
His colorful fur
His small, mighty personality
Him sneaking through the front gate, and coming back a day later
Like nothing ever
happened
Sadness filled me
We will miss you Rocky
Nana
By Piper M.
Blonde thinning hair as her age continued
Plump full face giving you the feeling of a hug with a simple look
Jewelry clanging and clashing the starfish and ocean gems reminding of the place she loved so
I regret how we were so far
I regret that we weren’t together, that I wasn’t there to hold you like you had done for me
Talking of the clear blue water that we both held so dearly to our hearts
The saltiness of the ocean with the sweetness of ice cream melting by the blazing sun
The seashells I searched for placed around your house, decorating picture frames that held your granddaughter who was a little too much like you for her own good
I wish I had seen you more, before you were gone
That we could talk of the ocean for just a little longer
That you could tell me the stories of your youth a little longer
That you could be here a little longer
That you could stay longer than you had
You never did get a funeral, he couldnt let you go, he wasnt going to even though you were already gone
I wish you had I known you wanted one
You were kind and everyone who got to have the pleasure of meeting you had their lives brightened by your unending kindness and love
