If I Could Be Water

If I could be water
I wouldn't be a pond
Muddy and brown,
I wouldn't be an ocean
Big and alone,
I wouldn't be rain
Falling again and again,
I wouldn't be ice
Cold and frozen,
I would be a river
Long, wide and free.

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Bailey Bystry, age 11
2008 Finalist
Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Writers' Studio
Teacher: Naazish Yarkan