After following meandering grey roads until dusk,
I watch russet leaves waltz about my feet
Skip over moon-whitened streets waiting for sunrise.

I look up at the chains of stars,
Thinking again of the half-remembered tales of my ancestors.
The familiar myths of my mother, who knew the hear of a scarlet sun
or my grandfather, whom the rain never touched.

Wasn't it he who saw Apollo streak across the jet-black sky?
Hadn't he seen that golden chariot, cast a bright glow over the verdant earth?

This morning I watched the grey light pool over the dew-wet world,
Branches reach to the sky in sombre rejoicing.
I thought I caught sight of Apollo
Careening over the auburn tress, and the low-rise factory buildings
Leaving the rising sun in his wake, melting the frost on the cracked paving
And bringing, with the new light, all the promises of another day.

Stolen Life
by Maria Longe
All Saints School, Barking & Dagenham

Father cares for me
Loves me
Adores me
Yet he has stolen my life

Kidnapped me from fun and laughter
Snatched me away from sun and chatter
Seized my heart
From loving others
Yet he says he loves me so

Each day I hope
I wish
I wonder
What lays on the other side of the
stained-glass windows

I stay inside practising and practising instruments
All different shapes and sizes
A high-class piano
A cello

I dare not play a wrong note
Or there will be trouble
As Father stands gracefully beside the piano
With a cane
Ready to strike me on my foot
The only place my expensive gown did not cover

My face trembled as I peered through a mirror
Hoping Father would show me mercy for the wrong key I just played

The Mechanism
by Francesca Young
Hackney Free & Parochial School, Hackney

Flickering through the web of neurons, the image
Standing clear across the darkness, stood sharp
Conducted to a metal styles
And a sheet of paper to be made corporeal
Black tarnished metal in the candlelight.

Beauty. He saw it and so do we.
Complex lines, swirls, slender hands caressed
By light, flexible, fragile. A thing of light,
Of elegance.

Strange. This picture concocted within a shell of bone
In an old man's brain, carried by primal energy
Through a web of nerves,
Down the infinitesimal distance of the arm.
Dream. Spirit.

Who knows what the artist thought as he stared at the image.
So fragile, with only he to give it shape.
No bone or muscle tone, no threadlike nerves
But the fragile lines of the paper.
And who knows that God felt, as he stared at his artist,
Looking in turn at the picture he had drawn.

Lessons Learned
by Ruth Osarfo-Mensah
Sydney Russell School, Barking & Dagenham

George Dragon George Dragon George......
The drumming of his heart
Rammed into his thoughts.
What was he?
What was he doing?
He was no hero.

A shadowy figure
Glimpsed through the woods
Like a moon in a storm
His face snow
His body ice

The rustle of leaves
Set him back
This foul beast

Bravery became nervousness
as he stumbled in to the distance.
Hopeless?... Pointless?...Flight?...Triumph?...Death?....
Can't Shan't. Won't let it happen.

The creature charged.
Scales shimmering in the sea of fire.
Angry. Bitter. Proud.
Intense heat from the tortuous flames
A growl fierce as thunder
Throwing itself at the piercing spear
Not quickly enough.

The power of pure silver
Gored the foul beast's armour
Blood erupted from its side
The dragon staggered,
Nostrils flaring
Krakatoa wound bursting with hatred.

Reluctant to fall
Clutching its side
Unprepared to end his battle

It was over.
Deeds discharged
Taken aback by courage
He mounted its spike
Slashed at his skull,
Left its eyes eyeless and shamed.

That night,
His mind scarred,
Taught people, and the future to come
The lesson of Good and Evil
The true story.

 
Lovers Last Touch
by Jaime Bell Bradford
Cardinal Pole School, Hackney

Her hands warm for only so long
The silent sound of her fingers clasping mine
Her streamline skin skating across my sleeve
Using up her luxury of time
I concentrated all my feeling into one hand
My lover's hand

Her wrinkled skin, the envy of cliff-faces
Was smoothed over by my soft touch
As I tried to comfort her
Her wounds too deep, my love, too much
I concentrated all my feelings into one hand
A dying hand

She slowly retracted her hand
And took it with her last touch
Her full moon eyes blessed me with one last look
Before entering her eternal sleep
I concentrated all my feelings into one hand
A woman's hand

A Tempestuous Storm
by Afreen Begum
Lister Community School, Newham

Across the silent seas did rise
a turbulent storm
in contorted form
answering the sea's curious cries

Wild and flashing, a blustering rage
a burst of blue
of bold green too
came erupting from its cage

A dominant stench seized power
the odour which rised
let out a surprise
enough to make any face sour

A tremendous uproar congested the once
peaceful terrain
the hurtles of caves
the crash of the waves
what but ailment can be gained?

With disastrous force
the storm roamed round
with potential power, newly found
destroying regions without remorse

Across the silent sea did rise
a turbulent storm
a contorted form
answering the sea's curious cries.


Untitled
by Toni Bedward
Lambeth Academy, Lambeth

When mother died
A bond was made
Little did I know
This bond would fade

A hand held tight
A smile to the face
Now that's all gone
A frown's taken it's place

As a young boy
You were my best friend
And now as I grow old
I'm seeing the end

Your hand is now slipping
Breaking away
And now we're going
Our separate ways

Now that you are old
You' re loosing your grip
You try and hold on
Try not to slip

But everything's fading
Fading away
Hold my hand
Like this we can stay

Together Forever
With hands held tight
If only that's the story
I could tell tonight.

The Power of Time
by Renee Devonish
Clapton Girls' Technology College, Hackney

Here I sit on my shelf as timekeeper
Upon my chariot bathed in gold
Watching as time runs deeper and deeper
Waiting for my own unique story to be told

My name is Apollo the messenger
Fast as the wind and light as the clouds
Information my only passenger
You'll be sure to ask me how

How I became a timekeeper
And why I choose to stay
The answer comes quite easily
I am remembered this way

My part in history I've played
I've roll the dice and won
And so my turn has ended
And your turn has just begun

Once I flew above the clouds
Olympus was my home
Sun and wind caressed my skin
The skies I used to roam

But now I sit as time keeper
No longer gripping reins
Time running further and deeper
Away from you caught in its chains

 
Jonah And The Whale
by Andrew Jones
Jo Richardson Community School, Barking and Dagenham

The rough sea splashing against the side of our boat,
The taste of sea salt sprayed off of the waves,
The fear was bubbling up in my throat,
Dry land was the only thing that I crave.

The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks,
The flapping of the sails' cloth blowing in the wind,
Oh no they have found me in my box,
They heard me say forgive me lord for I have sinned.

Why was it me you called upon?
Why was it me who you had asked to preach?
The crew are throwing me over and soon I'll be gone,
The side of the ship I could not reach.

Closer and closer the beast did come,
The next thing I knew it swallowed me whole,
I should have been at home like some,
I was freezing now right through to the soul.

Into the belly of the beast I slid,
Splashing and shouting hoping I don't die,
I couldn't get anything right no matter what I did,
For some reason I couldn't stop and cry.

When finally daylight did appear,
Spat out onto the walkway path,
The singing of birds was all I could hear,
The first thing I saw was a little baby calf.

The soft sand slid through my hand,
Every day now I'll pray,
I thought as I lay on the sand,
The lord is one person I'll never again disobey!

Rise and shine, Apollo
by Sabrian Sarder
Queens Park Community School, Brent

The golden spinning wheel,
Of his decorative chariot,
Twirls and whirls with the ticking of the clock

Apollo ascends from his glorious kingdom,
Awakening his four valiant steeds,
With luscious locks of fire, and lusty legs of speed.

He leaps into his royal ride, brimming with gusto and flair,
Confidently commands his companions forward,
With his nose high up in the air.

And forward they fly with ferocious momentum,
Bursting through the bountiful clouds,
To paint life with sunshine gold, was Apollo's noble vow.

Powerfully galloping over the  arc of heaven,
He draws the dark curtain of night away from the sky,
And bathes Olympus in his rays, and everything that he underlies.

He is as proud as a lion and he has every right to be,
For the sun god- Apollo- if you are yet to learn,
Is the one and only, that can make the sky burn.

Apollo
by James Cope
Robert Clack School, Barking and Dagenham

Carrying the sun beneath your wing
Across the sky day by day
Making the world a perfect thing
From September to June to month of may

Ah, since oceans, rivers, streams,
that waters the entire world,
pay tribute to you glorious beams,
In glorious swirled,

stooping from the noon of day,
too covetous of drink,
Apollo, have you stolen away
a poet's drop of ink?

Ordained perhaps here summer flies,
Combined with millions more,
To form an Iris in the skies,
Though black and foul before.

To hold in the viewless air,
It floats a higher now,
Forced across the world large and fair,
By the winds that blow;

Illustrious drop And happy then
Beyond the happiest lot,
Of all that ever passed my pen,
So soon to be forgot!

Patron of all those luckless brains
That, to the wrong side leaning,
Consume much wine with much pains,
And little or no meaning;

But now you are the one struck down
To be stared at and mocked day by day
To be stuck on a shelf with a gormless frown
Your horses' never eat anymore hay.

Hand in Hand
by Jorge Vela
Cardinal Hinsley Mathematics and Computing College, Brent

Both hands identical at sight
One on the left, one on the right
Equal length equal size
Both come from the same birth right
As branches extended from its trunk.

Light and dark
One goes left, one goes right
As contrast as the day and night
As if a flame that won't ignite
Drawn away by their loving fight.

If only day and night
Could unite
Both go left, both go right
Joined as one shows great might
Hands could rule the world.

Untitled
by Patrick Lee
Stoke Newington School, Hackney

Apollo commands his faithful steeds,
Pointing forth toward his future,
His chariot crashing against cloud,
The sky their landscape, the arc of freedom their path.

Nothing is to disobey that golden, outstretched finger,
That single muscle their leader,
Horses pulling their blazing chariot,
Riding upon life, kicking up thought.

With his skin open to the air,
He gleams purity and the will to command,
The sun; the bulb of life
Helping them on their journey.

Time ticks on, forever leading them ahead,
Too holy to tire, too human to stop,
The zodiac pushing them forward,
Eternity all they lead into.