Student Poems of the Month

I give up on life
and I will never say…
hope will find me
I know that
somehow
the world will be free of love
and never will
destruction stop
I believe I can make
war happen
never will
I say
peace for all

NOW… READING EACH VERSE UP (BOTTOM TO TOP)

peace for all
I say
never will
war happen
I believe I can make
destruction stop
and never will
the world be free of love
somehow
I know that
hope will find me
and I will never say…
I give up on life.

(c) 2011 Tracy
Bain Elementary
Charlotte, NC
Grade 5

Dear Santa,

I was truly good this year,
yet you think I am a villian.
But I think you have been watching
My naughty twin…Dylan!Yes,Dylan.

Remember when he shoved
our cousinin in that bin?
He was stuck in there for hours.
Yes, that was my twin.

Remember the day
that he layed a pin,
on the teachers chair?
Yes, that was my twin.

Remember when he gave
that wide, wide grin
after he colored the walls?
Yes, that was my twin.

Remember when he cheated
and said that he did win?
He was never caught.
Yes, that was my twin.

I never realized how
naughty I…I mean, he, has been.
So you better watch out
for my devious twin.

(c) 2011 Mia
Westfield Intermediate School
Westfield, IN
Grade 6

Beyond the Desperate Cries
(A tribute to those who suffered because of the earthquake in Japan)

doves
had hearts that were once set aglow
by the dancing flames
of winter’s eternal fire.
now they have finally been burned.
with scarred wings,
they fly in shame.

snow
was the melodic music
the Gods once chanted.
a lullaby to the Earth.
but now the black of the unforgiving night
has spread to all the realms of what we know,
tainting the purity of the flakes.

but there is still a single rose-petal
in the ruins of destruction.

if you cradle it in your hands
you’ll feel its vibrations.
it breathes blood
that flows through the veins of the world.

and have you ever tried to hear
what was beyond
the echoes of the desperate cries?

thousands of cranes
silently tread the fields of disaster.

ready to catch broken dreams
with their beaks
and mend them.

(c) 2011 Talia
International School of Beijing
Beijing, China
Grade 9

Why Don’t You Speak Your Mother Tongue?

We were both leaves from the same sycamore tree
The willows were the freshest shade of green
We’d watch the sun peek through the curtains of dawn
Do you remember all the golden mountaintops we’ve seen?

I memorized the latitude and the longitude of that light
It always guided me back home before
You were my north star; but now you’re headed south
I don’t have any sense of direction anymore.

We were artists, together we painted the skies
Your strokes were bold, you had no fear
Now the colors are gone; the heavens grew dull
I’m too scared to try because you’re not here.

You once spoke like me, now you speak
The language of the sea, but it’s not your mother tongue
Do you remember when our flames lit up the world?
Do you remember the fire songs that we sung?

(c) 2011 Talia
International School of Beijing
Beijing, China
Grade 9

My Darling’s Fallen Rose

The Northern Wind comes riding down as a breeze,
O’er the hills and the stormy seas.
Past feathery clouds and mountain tops it blows,
To the field of the fallen rose.

Here you see endless miles of blue summer sky,
Here the grass sways like a lullaby.
It is here where my love and I came to be,
Right under the big, old willow tree.

We would sit here and talk for hours on end,
And go exploring around the bend.
But here was the only place we could have fun,
For at home our love was being shunned.

So at twilight it was here we came to meet,
Creeping slowly and being discreet.
To our willow tree to be together,
We wished that it would last forever.

One day I waited for my love with a rose,
But my precious darling never showed.
So there I sat, determined, all the night long,
Until I awoke to the new dawn.

Weary-eyed and worn I started heading home,
And with the rose I felt quite alone.
At long last when it was my house that I reached,
My mother came out to me and screeched.

My dove’s father stabbed her in the dead of night,
But refused to have her in his sight.
She ran to my house in her time of despair,
Only to find that I was not there.

But mother took her in and tended to her,
While her blood continued to spur.
Now I was home so mother came out and said,
How my love laid upstairs, ill in bed.

I ran to where my darling lay ill and weak,
At my sight a tear ran down her cheek.
I told her I loved her and kissed her with care,
‘Til her eyes grew to a lifeless stare.

I gently pulled the covers over her face,
And with the rose I did race.
To our place under the old willow tree,
Here where my love and I used to be.

I tenderly placed the rose upon the ground,
Where it lay peacefully, safe and sound.
It lay there through autumns and winter’s cold frost,
And through it all, no petals were lost.

So when the Northern Wind rides down as a breeze,
Through the leaves of the old willow tree.
Down upon the ground where it tenderly blows,
Is where my lies my darling’s fallen rose.

(c) 2011 Kira
West Point Middle School
West Point, NY
Grade 8

SHYVANA THE HALF DRAGON

Shyvana’s reign
begins on the summers blaze

She sets aflame
all over the terrain

But the fire dulls
as autumn falls

As winter comes
away goes the sun

Fire becomes ice
a blistering freeze that tears the limb

The blinding light shinning upon the snow in which the Noxians fear to go

Enemies of Demacia will perish
for they can lose all they cherish

Beware the time Beware the place
if you are an enemy, there will be no grace
in the League of Legends

(c) 2011 Lee
Thomas Jefferson Middle School
Valparaiso, IN
Grade 7

With shivers and rustles
wind ruffled leaves scuttle down the gutters
wander down the sidewalk
tumble on brown lawns
bunch under trees
grieving for summer
with gasps and sighs
with crackling they say their goodbyes

(c) 2011 Sariah
Castleton Elementary School
Castleton-on-Hudson, NY
Grade 4

The Path of Solitude

At first only but a trickle, a growing wish to surge forward,
Its beauty isolated, within a mythical pasture
Floating by rolling hills
Bubbling and twisting through the fingers of prosperity,
Paradise is purity, paradise is clean
But paradise is not forever.

And so the river continues on,
Through the valleys and around the mountains,
Rough terrain becomes tame under its power,
It turns and bends
Crookedly meandering back and forth.

In the country,
Flowing across a plain of scenery that seems all too similar
Passing by the same fields again
As the days repeat and blend together
Unsure, it wavers frantically throughout the winding land

It passes simple villages,
Still the bringer of new life,
The people treat it with safe passing
They praise the waters for its kindness
And in return,
The river brings blessings
Here it is called magical
An almighty power of life in their hands.

Falling;
Approaching the towering city,
Meeting civilization for the first time
These waters lap up against the sides of great buildings,
Almost absorbing their wonders and technology in its awe,
Flowing between the skyscrapers
Its innocence is dirtied by the city’s use,
Pollutants, like a wave of evil, clash with this river
Intermingling to form one.
Only bringing corruption.

In the city,
Man sees this river
Sees what has happened to the one that was once so bold,
Its muddied banks now burdened with his soot
The knowledge of the people.
But it is only a river,
Only a drink, only a source of use
So he carries on; unaffected by its fall.

At the journeys end,
Its waters old and weary, search for a place to rest.
At last the ocean, spreading vast,
This river pours out into its welcoming hold
A greeting, a welcome home.
But the river is engulfed,
With no power left to fight on,
The ocean brings destined destruction.

And as one follows it out into the ocean,
Its traces disappear, like a tear wiped away.
Never to return, never to be found again,
A paradise attained only in death.
Awash in a sea of solitude.

(c) 2011 Maxwell
The O’Neal School
Southern Pines, NC
Grade: 11

CARL SANDBURG

Born of simple means,
His immigrant parents just making ends meet,
Forced to leave school and work odd jobs,
From Illinois he moves on.

After serving in the Spanish American War,
Admitted to college, free of charge;
Finally able to start learning again,
His thirst for writing renewed.

Meeting his true love at a political gathering,
Lilian changed his life from the start.
Quiet and strong, an important influence,
Always united, ‘til death do they part.

Poems written soon become famous;
A powerful voice shining through his words.
Now becoming a Man of the People,
Keeping their spirit in his heart.

Settling down in North Carolina,
A place for his family to thrive and grow.
Surrounded by his prize-winning goats,
Appreciating nature, a true home.

(c) 2011 Margaux
The O’Neal School
Southern Pines, NC
Grade: 7

In The Fall

In the fall you will see kites drifting through the air
like birds swaying back and forth
Children who are playing and jumping into
leaf piles like no tomorrow
In the fall

In the fall you will see bears and other creatures
getting ready to go into a sleep like a long night slumber
Animals who are picking up acorns and
burying them for the Winter
In the fall

In the fall you will see many figures scattered around
looking for sweets this way and that
Parents who are racing everywhere
while their kids ring doorbells on each house
In the fall

In the fall you will see turkeys, chicken, and ham all in a pot
smell the food being placed on the gigantic table
taste delicious mashed potatoes with gravy
hear family and friends asking for seconds
feel the warm fire wrapping you like a blanket
In the fall

(c) 2011 Nicola
Israel Loring Elementary School
Sudbury, MA
Grade: 4