I am long and skinny. Designed to come to a point when sharpened. I can help a thought come freely by sparking the imagination but I can also be used to write down the mundane like a grocery list or phone number. I deem myself worthy of these musings for I have been around for thousands of years. Once I was simply charcoal or chalk scraping on slate but now I am graphite scrolling on paper.
In my early years, I was naked and exposed. Staining the fingers of my users. Eventually, I became encased in wood surrounded by yellow paint and topped with a pink eraser. But, I am also found in mechanical utensils of various colors and designs. I am used to write prose, jot down notes, and compose symphonies. I can be permanent if glossed but usually I fade slowly by the passing of time.
I sketch ideas, draw graphs and charts, calculate math, and even find myself resting behind an ear or jammed into a ceiling tile. At one time I was the tool of preference but now only in schools. Although a form of me is preferred by many artists and architects for I can be erased and redrawn with ease. I always work when sharpened and need no power but that of a hand.
My purpose has diminished over the years however I am found in nearly every store across the world in some form or another. Various designs, advertisements and even Movie Stars are printed on my outsides. I can be purchased dull or sharpened but often I am not used completely. Wasted like crumpled paper, I am often found on the ground discarded like a gum wrapper.
Paper is my best friend and water my arch enemy. My cousin is ink which in most cases has overshadowed me. Children prefer to use me though because I am flexible. I make mistakes but they can be easily remedied for I have the cure. I am not permanent so I can be used for multi-purposes. I can be standard in color: grey or I can come in any color imaginable. Thick, thin, it does not matter for I will bend to the will of the user. I will scribble, trace, and even form the perfect penmanship.
I connect the dots of the human mind on paper. Words, graphics, and drawings that begin on a blank sheet and extend to layers of thought pouring out into the most amazing stories and designs, and the simplest lists or doodles. I was once mighty and cherished but now I am merely a tool used and discarded. For I am a pencil a wooden or plastic, graphite pencil.
The amazing thing about me is that I have been present since writing began. I wrote the drafts of the most honored and cherished documents in the world. I sketched for Leonardo Da Vinci and I wrote equations for Albert Einstein. I drew the first Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Technology has taken most of my jobs these days, but remember, I will always be here when the lights are out and the internet is down. I will be in a drawer or pencil case waiting for my chance to write what comes next.
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