The following poems about beginnings are appropriate for young people.
“blessing the boats” by Lucille Clifton
may the tide...
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“To make a prairie (1755)” by Emily Dickinson
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee...
“Religious Instructions for Young Casualties” by Sandra María Esteves
Believe in yourself...
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood …
“Remember” by Joy Harjo
Remember the sky you were born under…
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“Each year” by Dora Malech
I snap the twig to try to trap...
“Next Time Ask More Questions” by Naomi Shihab Nye
Before jumping, remember...
“Move” by Alicia Ostriker
Whether it’s a turtle who drags herself...
“At the Very Beginning” by Katie Peterson
When I named you I was on the verge...
“Again, She Tells the First Story” by Barbara Jane Reyes
Once, when there was no light...
“A House Called Tomorrow” by Alberto Ríos
You are not fifteen, or twelve, or seventeen...
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“The Waking” by Theodore Roethke
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow...
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“The Call of the Open” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Which yet joined not scent to hue...
“Song of the Open Road, I” by Walt Whitman
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road...
“The Year” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
What can be said in New Year rhymes...