Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

Little girl. You’ve carried
the burden of my name
my life, interrupted
by a car crash at my
own hands for longer
then you even knew me
on earth.

It’s time you lay down the burden
of my name, my life, my
goals that exceeded expectations
because you have surpassed
anything I would have wanted for myself
or anything I could have achieved if I survived.

The burden of my name
my life, is no longer yours
to carry. You’ve started building
your paradise in the place you feel
is home. But I keep seeing you
pause. Stop. Sit down.

You are afraid of your own power.
You don’t know how to live a life
not consumed in chaos and fear.

But little girl, you are doing that and more.
Yet you hold the burden of my name
my life and it’s unfinished work
As if you dishonor me by leaving it all down.

You are my image. Nothing more.
you’ve worked harder than I ever could.
Your time is now. Your life is yours.

My daughter, lay down the burden
of my name, my life.
Your debt is clear
I need to carry my own.

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

For most of my life, I grew up feeling like I had to live the life my father, who died when I was 9 years old, didn't get to live. Now I feel like it is time to live the life I wanted for myself.

2) What motivated you to write this poem?

The motivation came from the idea my life is my own now and I've written many poems about him and my inability to measure up to the life he should have had if he lived. Now that I'm putting down the torch and picking up my own torch, it was time to capture that in a poem.

3) How long have you been writing poetry?

I've been writing since I was in high school. I call that time in my life my teen angst death poetry era. However, being published has been since I was about 19.

4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would
that be?

Abraham Lincoln is who I'd like to have dinner with. I've been in awe of him since I was 15 years old and I'd like to get to know the real him. Not the Lincoln who has been filtered through the lens of history and hero worship, but the real one.

5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a
professional actor?

I teach a poetry class and I tell my students you will always get more insight into your work when another person reads it.

6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?

I've written plays, short stories, poems and creative nonfiction.

7) What is your passion in life?

I'm currently in the Gilder Lehrman Institute at Gettysburg College pursuing a MA in American History. Education and American History, along with writing have been my passions in life.