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In Memory of Romeo and Juliet
by Victor Tyne, St. Peter’s Preparatory School, Jersey City, New Jersey
These twain ephem’ral lives were fraught with woes
When they, a boy and girl in morn of life,
Defied their due inheritance as foes
And chased a star-crossed love as man and wife.
Belovéd by their family, kin and friends,
To honest, faithful vow of love they swore;
Walked fortune’s path to meet their self-willed ends
That ended ancient hate and true peace bore.
Each fain would drink the pois’nous sip of death
Or by the sting of dagger sharp depart,
For entering the grave’s eternal rest
Proved better than to live with broken heart.
The sword of fatal love spared neither child,
But through their deaths were households reconciled.
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My Somber Saunter
by Rhea Mitr, Quarry Lane School, Dublin, California
Rosy faces plastered with joy and cheer,
Ambush of powder orbs dappling the haze,
Wide-eyed legions exploring for reindeer,
Imagination ablaze: holidays.
Chestnuts roasting in the woolen fire,
Vines draping the alabaster mantle,
Resonating harmonies of choir,
Faint flames waltzing atop a pine candle.
Frail boughs sagging under crystallized chalk,
Frozen spires clinging to withered wood,
Fallen wreaths, stiff hinges, fractured sidewalk,
A silent and deserted neighborhood.
Life’s tender lattice is rather brittle,
Easily slashed with my frigid sickle.
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The Forest
by Kaley Henyon, Linganore High School, Frederick, Maryland
In the forest, dark and daunting, shadows sneak so ever haunting
The sun is gone there is no light, I’m all alone in the forest tonight
Shadows deft with grapes of wrath, streak across the unmarked path
My fear, it sears, my beat brain’s might, upon this eve I think of flight
Filled with trenchant thoughts of plight, my heart, my skin, all gone white
In the forest, on this night
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As I walked the rigid ground, in the distance, a crackling sound
A moment of vivacious light, I see a chance to make wrongs right
I know it’s tempt within the fire, appealing to my deep desire
I impugn this glow, its florid light, it ever stretches within my sight
The sound, it grows, no longer slight, the temptation calls, no fear, no fright
In the forest, on this night
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Creed of Communism
by Jacyln Kennedy, Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek, Arizona
Crimson hands, roses drowned with might
With plucks and pricks, their thorns in flight
As stems dwindled, wilted, they bled
For who grew keen of raging Red?
Cease the glow, gleam of glory
Rise, cosmic purgatory
Let its chains ring, surge with bones
Bound as one, we weep alone
Was it the Youth, palms thawed in blue?
Blazing fingertips, softened Truth
Hallowed hearts and high-handed heads
Kindle the thirsts of the ill-fed
Beyond these ashes, coast to coast
Upon the West, a fruitful rose
Bloom, blossom this sermon of fair
A veiled vow to leave us bare
Surely, in time, idolatry of blight
Would grieve in seconds, the minutes finite
Yet a hammer, They use, to slice the saved
Even the Devil spits upon His grave
To Reds, may I so kindly inquire
Your hue’s scare ablaze, a rampant fire
Why continue, lust for bedeviled buds?
Blink a bitter tear, taste our salt and blood?
Whistled from those flush, decayed petals for lips,
“To let our thorns branch into dictatorship”
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