For Tomorrow
by Francesca Hiscock, Melbourne Girls Grammar
Finalist, Years 9 – 10, performance poetry
My body crumbles,
laid here in the grasp of my bed.
I hear the echoes,
torturous whispers in my head.
A voice that bleeds deeper
into my lonesome mind.
My shoulders curl,
solace in each other they find.
It runs deeper than the shame
built from endless chastise,
heavier than the tears
in my lonely haggard eyes.
Not even one tear can escape
to kiss my cheeks,
to cherish me,
to take away all my critiques.
The birds still sing as if nothing’s wrong,
while I can’t speak, let alone belong.
I will never be a little white dove,
too flawed for heaven and too bruised for love.
Yet still I have so much of it to give.
I will spit it out till I cease to live.
These small shadows tyrannise my brain,
now it feels like it is all in vain.
It’s what forces me to be paralysed,
urging me to run toward my demise.
I can’t help praying that Death will arrive,
because in his arms I might feel alive.
For then I will lay as if I were a stain,
on the floor of a world I could not remain.
And I won’t need to proclaim
that you pour the champagne,
as my death will be a gain,
and it is me to blame.
But then why are they crying
and why am I trying
to keep myself from dying?
Why have I been hiding?
With a life like mine,
I should be flying.
I will not keep denying
what I have been implying.
Living is not a means to an end.
The grave is never the goal, my friend.
They will not name the times you wept,
but of the dreams you always kept.
And when you look back on the days behind,
hold close to the moments that shaped your mind.
For every step and every tear,
you carved the path that led you here.
To see yourself in all of your light,
you will not fade but you will shine bright.
Want to read more poems? Explore the other Years 9 – 10 finalists.