The Last Unicorn/Vixen

The Last Unicorn, Vixen

Peter T. Atkinson

Have you ever seen the old cartoon movie,

"The Last Unicorn?" The movie came to mind

While thinking about the 2015 graduates

Of Sweet Briar College today. There she is

Living her life, in her safe forest, never once

Thinking about her place in the world, you know

As the last, but then she overhears she is:

Some man spills the beans, and she cannot

Believe it. "Me the last? How did this happen?

There must be unicorns left in the world?

We do not vanish? We may be driven, scattered,

Even killed, if we leave our forests, but we

Do not vanish. No, I must find the others;

If there are others like me, wheresoever

They've gone." And so she goes, out from

Her forest, safe and secure, into the world.

She is befriended by a magician, if you can

So call him, and a girl long grown, still dreaming,

But there is also the Red Bull and the King,

And they together have driven the unicorns

Into the sea, for their own pleasure. She leaves

Behind the safety she's known, and becomes

More than she ever thought possible, and she

Loves. No unicorn has ever done that. With love

As her strength she overcomes her fears,

Stops fleeing the bull, and turns, faces, fights.

She drives him into the sea in her place. His fire

Goes out, and her powers only grow. She has

Become more strong than she ever could have

Back in her safe forest, alone. Since she cared,

Since she asked, since she went seeking, she found

More than she ever thought possible, both in

Her world, and in herself. She found she was not

The last, but after she fought, the others found

Their strength, and came teeming out of the sea

To again fill the magical forests of the world

With their magic. May you graduates this year

Be not the last, but those whose fight inspires

The many who'll follow to find their powers

And fill a world very much in need of unicorns,

Or if we cannot have unicorns, at least we can

Have the next best thing: Sweet Briar Vixens,

Gladly bearing their roses, out of the sea, daring,

To sing at the top of their lungs, "I'm alive, I'm alive."