Derek Villaceran, Year 12, Lilydale High School, has won the Student Poetry Competition in the Years 11-12 section for his poem, Summer Longings.
This is what the judges said:
The well-built lines with smooth transitions capture and contrast the colourful carefree days of childhood with the sombre consciousness of ageing.
You can read Derek’s poem below, along with the students awarded honourable mentions in the category for their outstanding work.
Summer Longings
By Derek Villaceran
Those rubies falling from the sky
Glistening deep scarlet all around
Bright orange, vibrant like topaz
And yellows as bright as pure gold
Fall once again taking its place
Trees breaking down in the coming cold
Becoming stripped to the bare bones,
Yet they wait for their soon rebirth.
Those wintry days full of loneliness.
An endless sense of incompletion
An endless sense of listlessness.
All around us are clear diamonds
Tear dropped diamonds that pitter patter
in an endless soft rhythm.
With my coloured world so far away.
Peering into the grey void sky.
My adventures, but a distant dream,
as I await the first call of life.
The murmurings of creatures.
The birdsong all around us.
The frozen scenery awakens.
With ice in my heart thawed out.
Let the warmth of sunlight take me.
Let the gentle light rest on my face,
As I dream of those mirages
A dream of a long gone past.
That summer of my childhood.
The endless echoes of joy.
And the beckoning of companions.
All are but fragments of my memory.
Must I age ever so quickly?
This never-ending cycle of seasons.
Forever I am lost in the past.
Seeking a way to go back
A way back to that Summer.
But I continue walking.
Step by step.
Seeking that childhood in the sunset,
No matter the piling changes in life.
No matter the stinging pain,
no matter the longing in my heart.
Forever looking behind my shoulder
Picking up those pieces of me.
Piece by piece.
“Towards a new future”, I say.
But I can still hear the cicadas from that day.
Winni Graham, Year 12, Wonthaggi Secondary College
The Price of Wisdom
Charlie Shiel, Year 11, Genezzano FCJ College
Rural Revelation
Prep-Year 2
Winter, by Adele Bilney, Year 2, Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School
Years 3-4
Silver Lining, by Mehak Soin, Year 4, Melbourne Girls Grammar
Years 5-6
After the Fire, by Felicity van Rensburg, Year 5, Harkaway Hills College
Years 7-8
Hope, by Ravin Rathnayake, Year 8, Haileybury College Edrington
Years 9-10
Hope in a Whistle, by Haelie Roberts, Year 9, Olivet Christian College