‘Beyond Mind’s Extent’ by Saoirse Breen, age 14, Year 9, The Tiffin Girls’ School

There once were days when I would beard the sun:

Stare deep into its core till tears would run.

From those days evolved an epiphany:

That light makes bearing darkness agony.

 

“Are you for real?” is something that I say

When things are finally going my way.

I wonder when I die and reach the gate:

Will I think that the angels’ calls are bait?

 

We rub our eyes when we are in a dream

Because our minds are wired to doubt it seems;

But really I think that the profound cause

Is joys of life our eyes cannot explore.

 

The sorrow of a loss beyond control;

Joy finding someone who completes your whole;

Anxiety past illness’ nature;

Intensity that words cannot capture.

 

I like to think we close our eyes to feel:

To bear our human passion, twice as real.

I hate to think our eyelids now present

Mirage that evil stems from malintent.

 

The troughs of life emerge with ignorance;

To reach the peak requires percipience.