Why I Relay
by Kirsten SmithIntroduction
Two years ago, our youth group got started doing something called "Relay for Life." It is a relay for twenty-four hours to fight cancer, and our youth group has a team. We are called the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Flames! I am the team captain along with one of our advisors, and this year we had something as an opening ceremony called "Why I Relay." This is where relay-ers could come up and share why they relay. I read this poem, which I wrote about my Grandpa Erwin.
Why I Relay
i remember back
when,
i sat on that soft carpet floor,
listened to his stories,
i
couldn't wait to hear more,
polio had taken,
much of his childhood
away,
but still my grandpa stood tall,
i thought he was here to
stay,
my grandpa seemed to make,
my life so much better,
he always
made me happy,
i'll remember that forever,
all of the summers,
we
spent at ross lake,
camping with the family,
memories no one could ever
take,
but that summer of ' 04,
it was not right,
i never thought i
would see,
my grandpa lose that fight,
all of us cried,
but no one
could speak,
as this fourteen year-old girl,
dumped her grandpas ashes down Ruby
creek,
beneath the dark sunglasses,
for the first time in my
life,
i watched my uncles and my father,
truly start to cry,
i wake
up with that memory,
in the middle of the night,
how my grandpa
lost,
how those tears were not right,
cancer takes no mercy,
and we
thought his polio was bad,
but cancer was the killer,
it really is
sad,
and this is why i relay,
all those tears that fell,
and the
memories never spoken of,
because it's just too hard to tell,
so let
me tell you something,
i relay for you,
so you will never have to
feel,
the pain my family went through,
because when you think about
it,
cancer wants to stay,
but the money that we raise,
will help make
it go away,
so let us all relay,
for the fighting, lost and
won,
and for the future generations,
when cancer will be done.
Kirsten Smith is sixteen years old and attends the Edmond UU Church in Washington.
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
