“Words to Remember” by WITS Student Zia Agarwala
September 21, 2021
Remember to Read,
To be in a different body, able to do anything,
Remember to escape your worries, leaving your world behind you,
Doing the impossible,
Remember to fly through every dimension, having no limits,
You can fight dragons, and do things you would never be able to do in your
world of reality,
Remember to flow through books,
Never an ending to the different voices,
Different worlds,
Different lives,
Exploring new things and looking through others’ perspective,
Remember how you are in someone else’s shoes,
And you are free
Remember the Moon and the Sun,
The king and queen of the sky,
Remember how they guide day and night, making sure everything is balanced,
Never too much light or too much darkness,
Both beauty beyond our earth,
Remember how every night and every day you look up and see them
towering over you,
Knowing that’s the reason you are there, too,
Remember how they are the sun and the moon,
the king and the queen,
the emperor and the empress,
They will always be the unearthly glow that keeps the earth alive
Remember to Dance,
Remember to feel the air rushing past you, as close to flying as you will ever get,
Remember what it’s like to have your body act, not your face or voice,
Remember how to perform, how a rush of emotion comes out of every movement,
How you don’t have a care in the world,
The only thing you know and feel is that you’re free,
Remember how you are no longer trapped in a cage of stress and fear,
You are wind and air,
Up and down,
Remember how you are both everything and nothing,
There is not a thing in the world that can stop you from that feeling
Remember the Stars,
Small specks of light keeping the never-ending darkness at bay,
Remember how no star is the same as another,
How they create the most delicate constellations, guiding you through the
pitch-black sky,
Remember that every star is a living force,
shining through drapes of darkness,
Millions of stars scattered over a smooth,
Clear black sky,
Remember how they look like small specks of light or salt,
Yet every star is bigger than you could ever have imagined,
Pulsing with light and life
Zia Agarwala wrote this poem while a student at Hamilton International Middle School with WITS Writer-in-Residence Sara Brickman. Zia read it to open for Billie Jean King, who performed as part of SAL Presents on September 23, 2021.