The Black Swan
by Nabihah Syeda, Bacchus Marsh Grammar
Finalist, Years 9 – 10, written poetry
I saw a swan today,
Black, beautiful, bestowed upon the lake,
A symbol of pure elegance,
In a bleak and broken world.
There are devils in the dark,
Who prod, pester and plague
The souls of the innocent,
Blemishing them with darkness.
As the black encloses,
The light diminishes,
Taking with it hopes, dreams and wishes,
Wiping away all the good.
Darkness becomes king,
Dethroning the loyal, lovely light,
Clothing the world in an opaque robe,
Suffocating the budding aspirators.
But amidst the ruling dark,
Hidden beauties persist to exist,
The overflowing light inside of them,
Rebelling against their foes.
Even in the encroaching dark,
Light continues to form,
Bulldozing the bad barriers,
And boldly bursting into bright.
All the forms of life,
The vast, expanding sky,
The calm, cool water.
The laughter, the love, the lengths of success,
The lucky lake.
The swan,
Simple, sovereign, special,
Rests resplendently upon the waters,
A beacon of light in itself.
The swan,
Despite all the wrongs of the world,
Despite all the dread, despair and desolation,
Despite all the dreary, damp dark,
It exists.
The swan,
Curve-necked, black-feathered, red-beaked,
Floats on the thin layer of blue,
Simple. Sovereign. Special.
Black, but
Beautiful.
Want to read more poems? Explore the other Years 9 – 10 finalists.