Let’s all have a Harry Potter day, where we dress in capes around town.

We can wear fluffy hoods and drink champagne, all safety-pinned in gowns.

We won’t mind smiling for pictures, we’ll even hold a scroll,

Because this powerful piece of paper is worth its weight in gold.

Let’s all have a Harry Potter day, when we’re actually commanded to wear fancy dress, 

We’ll sit in great halls listening to endless speeches from people we’re meant to impress.

We will swish around all day in our wizard clothes, feeling very grand,

We’ll chuck mortar boards into the air without a thought of where they might land.

Let’s all have a Harry Potter day, a moment to mark the past years,

Of studying and friendship, exam stress, maturing, realising some hopes and some fears .

We will queue with pride to shake the hands of strangers and try not to trip on the floor,

We will sit with the family over dinner and talk of all that has gone before.

Let’s all have a Harry Potter day, a coming-of-age celebration.

We’ll travel the right of passage with thousands, all across the nations.

And as we receive our applause, inside we’re holding our breath,

Because when we wake up tomorrow we’ll know our university years have left.

Let’s all have a Harry Potter day, and try not to think of tomorrow,

Because if we’ve just been obedient to the education god then we’ve got no one left to follow.

The tracks run out now, there’s not another school to begin, it’s time to move on and out,

And somewhere between your degree mark and the gown, you wonder what it was all about?

Let’s all have a Harry Potter day, and avoid the questions about career,

Because we’ve had the best time, but unemployment is high, and the future’s uncomfortably near.

If the degree was to get a job and a job was to get money, I guess that must be our aim,

Because we all need to be “secure” and probably get on the property chain.

Let’s all have a Harry Potter day, but who are we the next morning?

Waking up as a graduate, no housemate comforts, the rest of our life is calling.

And deep down we know there’s more to us than our paper chain of success,

Perhaps despite popular assumption, the money, the connections, the status, all matters a little less.

Let’s all have a Harry Potter day, party hard and be grateful we’re there,

And recognise we aren’t defined by the day, but be glad for the cape that we wear.

And know that we were not made to be worth only what we do, 

But you are handmade by God, deliberately placed on the earth to live with him just being you.

Happy Graduation class of 2013.

 

Photo Credit: Luftphilia