You've Gone, Happy Place & Journey

Three more entries for the recent Junior Poetry Prize : all the junior poetry we are posting at the moment is written by III form pupils about to sit their Junior Certificate exams.

'You’ve Gone', by Anna Traill

Sitting by the window,
Feeling the loneliness seep deeper
Looking out at the drive,
Dusty photo, beautiful person.

A cold cup of tea,
Some biscuits uneaten.
They ask why I wait,
There’s no explanation.

The feeling is strong,
That’s all I can say,
Strong enough for me,
To keep waiting all day.

Waiting for something,
That’ll never come home.
The creak of the gate,
Our child motherless, alone.

Your adventurous stories,
You red flaming hair,
Your stupid annoying habits
But did I ever care?

You’ll come back I just know it,
I can tell from your heart
But the answer I don’t know,
Is why you ever wanted to part?


'Happy Place', by Anna Traill

Chilly wind blowing down my neck
Sound of sea gulls.
No waves, but ripples
Ripples in the forgotten sea.
Loose sand gliding over the golden sheet,
Colours in the sky,
Every shade of a prism,
Tranquillity taking over,
Peace and quiet, away from everything.
Just to think.
Nobody here,
Just me and myself,
Myself and I.
It’s more than enough, don’t need anyone else,
Sitting in my oasis
Not a care in the world.
Forgotten bad thoughts
Brought new ones to mind
Someone calling my name,
This place, I leave behind.


'Journey', by Jessica Dean

If life itself let loose its wings
And drifted on the drafts of death,
not tied down by mortal things,
dependent upon no breath.
Though all above does not see down
and down may not see up,
we cannot see ahead our time
for all our eyes stay shut.
And at the end we go to a place
where we are purely souls,
we see that after all this time
finally, we are whole.