Like many of this site’s regular readers, I am at the PLUS D&O Symposium this week. Because the activities at the Symposium have disrupted my normal opportunities to blog, I thought I would fill the gap with some poetry.

These two winter poems come to us from Lucy Griffiths, Age 9, of Arlington, Virginia. Lucy is the daughter of my good friends and former colleagues, Stacey McGraw, of the Troutman Sanders law firm, and John Griffiths, of the U.S. Department of Justice. Here are Lucy’s winter poems.

MYSTERIOUS SNOW

Whispers are spoken
as flurries fall

Secrets are broken
while the snow grows tall

Feet wander making tracks
all while the snowflakes start to pack

                 WINTER WIND

The winter wind is crisp to your cheeks

The wind calls like a bird’s beak

The winter wind wonders what to do,
Should it snap?
Should it crackle?
Should it flow into your shoe?

The winter wind blows through the trees

It will never do as you please

Lucy is an award-winning poet. Last year, one of her poems won first prize in the Arlington County Public Schools Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Visual and Literary Arts Contest. Here is her prize-winning poem “How Will I Rid the World of Hate”:

How I will rid the world of hate?

Wandering, wondering

How will I rid the world of hate?

Hate won’t get you anywhere.

Hate will keep you in the hatred zone.

Love will give you happiness

as merry as a sunny day.

Love brings joy

as strong as a lifelong friendship.

Love warms your heart

like the warm sun that beats down on my face.

Love gives you the faith to get rid of hate.

If you’re lost in the hatred zone,

replace your hatred with love.

Dr. King, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi were great leaders

they taught us it is our responsibility to

bring love to the world and be leaders.

Dr. King taught to us to treat all people fairly

Nelson Mandela taught us

 apartheid was treating people improperly

And

Gandhi taught us to act peacefully.