Competition

Highly Commended

The Girl on the Other Side of the World
by Celina Macdonald

On my side of the world
A little girl is crying over losing her doll.
On the other side of the world
A little girl is crying over losing her mother.
On my side of the world
A little girl wants to be a famous actress when she grows up.
On the other side of the world
A little girl wants to live past the age of seven.
On my side of the world
A little girl wonders if her favourite television show will come back
On the other side of the world
A little girl wonders if her father will come back
On my side of the world
A little girl’s eyes are covered when there’s violence on television.
On the other side of the world
A little girl is forced to watch it for real.
On my side of the world
A little girl makes a poster that says in awkward handwriting:
“Peace”
On the other side of the world
A little girl wants the same thing.

Highly Commended

The Dream is Lost
by Terri Keevers

When we’re young we all have a dream
Of what we want to be
When we are all grown up
And things we want to see

We dream of having great jobs
And happily ever afters
We dream of love and great wealth
But we don’t dream of disasters

We don’t dream of tears and heartache
We don’t dream of cries of pain
We don’t dream of sadness and loathing
Instead we dream of fame

We never dream that we will fail
Or that we will ever lose hope
We don’t dream of anger or hatred
And we don’t dream of being broke

But now that we are older
And we glance back at the times
That we thought we would rule the world
Not be committing crimes

We realize that our dreams of happiness
Are gone forever more
And we know in our hearts we’re failing
And inside we are sore

Instead of fame and glory
We are living on the street
Or we are working 9 till 5
For the minimum wage each week

So we look back and wonder
How it ever came to this
And where and why we went wrong
And are poor instead of rich

It is because we lost sight
Of the most important things
Like believing in ourselves
And striving hard to win

Did we lose hope along the way
Were we too lazy to realize
That we were heading down the drain
So then tears swell in our eyes

We stare into the mirror
At what we have become
And we know that we are out of luck
And that the darkness has come

And so we go to sleep at night
And lay there in a trance
And think of what we used to want
Whether to sing, or act, or dance

And we close our eyes and go to sleep
And think of the great coast
Of losing faith and hope of love
For now the dream is lost