Adeline Crawford

Going Away to College

By Adeline Crawford 

Cardboard boxes, once components of a castle, 

lay scattered around the floor, soon to be filled.

Sticker stars on the ceiling paint a galaxy once 

traversed by a fearless space ranger,

who now peels each one off.  The Avengers, 

the crew of the Enterprise, and the Lost Boys 

watch from their pasted places on the walls. 

Countless hours spent constructing collections,

action figures, matchbox cars and crackerjack toys

that will never be touched again, until 

they are shuttled into zip lock bags for a summer 

yard sale, seems to be a distant memory.

There is no room in the boxes for collections. 

Familiar faces pushed to the corner of the bed,

once plush, bright and new,

are slumped, tattered and dull.

Close companions, playmates, and shoulders

to cry on, with unblinking eyes that linger 

are soon to lose what they once protected.

Even if endless nights spent cuddled under 

the comforter, tightly tucked away from any monstrous 

creatures cooped up in the closet, while basking 

in the glow of the incandescent night light,

were only soothed by them.

There is no room in the boxes for forgotten friends. 

The hushed laugher of hide and seek is now silent.

The screams of temper tantrums are now whispers.

The tears of scraped knees are now dried.

And yet, she remains. 

The fearless space ranger

firefighter,

chef,

doctor,

superhero,

and rockstar,

just as she always has. 

Surrounded by the joys of a childhood well fulfilled,

hard at work,

armed with a package of half melted crayons,

she continues to color on sun bleached coloring sheets. 

While she tries to suppress a yawn,

fight off sleep for a little bit longer, 

to finish the portrait she has started,

she begins to rub her eyes.

Because even though most of the cardboard 

cartons are still half empty,

awaiting decisions yet to be made,

there is no room in the boxes for a little girl. 

Author’s Note:  This year will be the first time my sister and I are going off to college. We grew up sharing a bedroom in our childhood home and spent a lot of time occupying ourselves with the toys and games in our room. I was inspired to write this poem because of all the memories that came back to me while occupied by the idea of packing for college.