Bad Time Rhymes
Poetry Competition 2009 Winners
Grief Encounter would like to thank all of the budding poets who entered the competition this year. It was a very tough job selecting the winners amongst so many amazing entries however we must congratulate Katie (in the 12-18 year old category) and Martha (in the 7-11 year old category) for their outstanding pieces. Please take a moment to read their wonderfully moving poems below.
Death is no distance; we’re not a world apart,
I may not be able to see you, but I know exactly where you are,
I follow your every movement, from morning until night,
I can trace your thoughts to the pinpoint second they would have taken flight;
Because we were attached once, but a bond no one can break, you gave me a room to sleep in and the food off of your plate. You gave me my dark brown hair and my big, determined eyes. You wrote my childhood memories, staring at the endless starry skies.
You made my first footprints with me, in the soft, warm, yellow sand,
Toddling down the sun splashed coast, you encasing my tiny hand
And that chocolate box of moments, that make me who I am today,
That undying love you provided, that won’t ever fade away.
And yes your circuit’s dying, yes you’re not so near
But I will never give up trying; I won’t fail to keep you here
So I touch your arm so gently, and for a moment, we are good,
In a fizz our hearts connected. Anchored. As they should.
Is the feeling of having lost
The thing in life you love the most.
It is love, fear, anger and guilt
And the inability to recall
The last kiss or fond farewell.
It is the ability to remember
Every harsh thought and word
Though those were seldom uttered.
It is sadness, loss and loneliness
A vast, empty, airless,
Sunless, bottomless pit.
It is a world torn apart.
Who am I, where do I belong?
I am not me without you.
But now the clouds begin to part
And sunlight trickles through.
What once was pain and deep despair
Is now the light that still is you.
I feel your love upon me
Your spirit bright and true.
You hold my hand, you soothe my brow
And I know I’m in the presence of you.
Now grief becomes the bittersweet memory
Of the thing in life you loved the most.
I may not be able to see you, but I know exactly where you are,
I follow your every movement, from morning until night,
I can trace your thoughts to the pinpoint second they would have taken flight;
Because we were attached once, but a bond no one can break, you gave me a room to sleep in and the food off of your plate. You gave me my dark brown hair and my big, determined eyes. You wrote my childhood memories, staring at the endless starry skies.
You made my first footprints with me, in the soft, warm, yellow sand,
Toddling down the sun splashed coast, you encasing my tiny hand
And that chocolate box of moments, that make me who I am today,
That undying love you provided, that won’t ever fade away.
And yes your circuit’s dying, yes you’re not so near
But I will never give up trying; I won’t fail to keep you here
So I touch your arm so gently, and for a moment, we are good,
In a fizz our hearts connected. Anchored. As they should.
By Katie age 16
Grief...Is the feeling of having lost
The thing in life you love the most.
It is love, fear, anger and guilt
And the inability to recall
The last kiss or fond farewell.
It is the ability to remember
Every harsh thought and word
Though those were seldom uttered.
It is sadness, loss and loneliness
A vast, empty, airless,
Sunless, bottomless pit.
It is a world torn apart.
Who am I, where do I belong?
I am not me without you.
But now the clouds begin to part
And sunlight trickles through.
What once was pain and deep despair
Is now the light that still is you.
I feel your love upon me
Your spirit bright and true.
You hold my hand, you soothe my brow
And I know I’m in the presence of you.
Now grief becomes the bittersweet memory
Of the thing in life you loved the most.
By Martha age 11
