Spark: The Power of One

written for an MLK Day assembly

I am a spark
Igniting internal flame.
Giving life to idea
Accepting no blame

For pushing my thought
Onto some others’ plates,
Feeding them warmly.
Watch what it creates

As they swallow and digest
And make it their own -
Tend their growing passion
In fields that they’ve sown.

Harvesting great effort
and selling it hard.
Spreading the message
With mindful regard

That what has been proffered
Is vital to the masses.
An avalanche rolling,
Picking up all that it passes

An unstoppable force.
Oh, to see it grow!
What started as spark
Now raging inferno.

This is how it begins
Way of the world, so to speak.
Change is a force for
The strong not the meek,

And strength is not measured
By age or by size.
But, rather, persistence
And the number of tries

You have in your heart,
Particularly when
You’re faced with adversity
Again and again.

I am a spark.
I am not just a kid.
I burned and I burned,
And look what I did.

© Jeff Wilson, 2007