I Want to Make It to My Graduation

By Dimitri Shostakovich



I want to make it to my graduation
Even though I haven't long to live.
I want that one last hard-earned celebration
To give me all the joy that it can give.
I want your pride around me like a song,
To walk within its passion and its beauty,
To feel its pleasure in me sweet and strong,
To be possessed of all of those who love me.
And then I want the lazy afterglow,
The long, slow chatter of the waning day,
The easy confidence of those who know
That something precious has been put away.
Death's a dawn in that its golden light
Reveals the loveliness long hid by night.