What is there,
To speak of in this world,
At only seventeen years of age,
Than love, school, friends, work, dreams.

How do I tell them that I want so much more?
How do I explain to people who ask about my future that I want so much more than what college can offer me?

I don’t want to stay here forever,
I want to climb every mountain in the world- rocky or smooth
Not just the highest, nor the lowest,
But all the imbetweens.

I want to love every imperfect stone set in place,
Follow the pathways it leads to and be able to glide over every river it came from.

I want to skydive, and ski, travel to Australia, and maybe even to the milky way.
I want to spend a year in France,
Knowing nothing of the language,
And learn from the ground up.

I want to be a biochemist, a develop a cure,
For heartbreaks, and pain, and every impossible “ incurable” affliction there is

I want to work on the docks of Maine,
Stir the cloudy water with my bare feet, or
Chop wood with my bare hands, with the blue cold numbing thin fingers.

I want to farm on the rich soil of the Mississippi,
A piece of straw stuck between two teeth.

I want to dress in a suit and tie,
And rule Wall Street in heels.

I want to live a thousand lives,
I want a thousand years to do it.

But how do you put that, on a single application?