My 1st Poem

Shawn E. Ebanks

I first discovered my "gift" of writing poetry back in 1998. I was a sophomore in high school, and in our English class, we were given an assignment. The teacher gave us these small pieces of paper, shaped like an angel, and she wanted us to write a poem. But the catch was, the poem had to be about the person whom we considered our angel. And the first person that came to mind for me was my little cousin, Shawn. Unfortunately, he had died in July of 1996 at the age of 8. He was the most amazing person that I had ever met in my life. Despite being blind, and having to get blood treatments regularly, he was always so full of life, and loved me unconditionally. His death is still a dark cloud that hangs over me until this day. But despite not knowing how to write poetry, I was able to complete the assignment after thinking about my angel. The poem is rather simple, and quite honestly, not up to the standard that I feel he deserved. But he is my angel, and he inspired my very first poem. And thankfully, I have been writing ever since.

I love you, Shawn.
I think of you every single day that I am lucky enough to breathe.
That hole in my heart will never be filled.

"My Angel"

My Angel is my cousin Shawn

From my life he is now gone

My Angel died at the age of eight

I thought it was too early, but maybe it was too late

To the thing called fun, we were no strangers

Shawn's favorite things were the Power Rangers

Even though Shawn played with toys

He was still cooler than the rest of the boys

Shawn, I know you're in Heaven chilling with the Boss

I'll hope to see you in Heaven, where our paths will cross

Shawn, there's just one thing I want you to know

My poor little cousin, how I miss you so.

- In loving memory of my cousin & best friend

Shawn E. Ebanks

Sunset: 7-5-96