Student Publishing Program ::

Hadas Austin

Keep Off The Grass

Higher than the lowest creature,
Mightier than the weakest;
For decades I have learned to thrive,
A mere carpet of the rest.

Keep off of me, or promise I,
My color, it shall fade;
As by and by, I crumple up
Under anything man-made.

Between nothing I distinguish,
All is the same to me;
Be it rakes, or boots, or tractor wheels,
They are an enemy.

What has happened? In the past,
I was lord of all around,
The bugs and insects, anything
That crawled upon the ground.

All that has changed, but though I am
Still taller than those bugs,
I’m brown and dry and minimized
And oft’ neglected. Ugh.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2009 EDITION]