‘Us Against the World’ by Katherine, age 15, Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School

It didn’t take me long to realise

That I was never on my own.

The pain I forever could feel

Was felt in every one of our homes.

 

Our eyes stare at the outline

Of our grey, gloomy ceilings.

‘The beauty’ so unattainable

That our skins come off in peelings.

 

Our hearts together thudding

As those groping arms reach forth,

Because all who came before us

Have tales of men to match a war.

 

The light shines bright on our faces;

Hatred of our pores, hair and scars.

Never knowing each other’s secrets

Until we’re deep inside the stars.

 

‘Me too’, just those two words

Set off a burning flame in my heart.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

For stopping my body falling apart.

 

Now our lips are sewn no longer,

We are finally at liberty to be alive.

And we tell each other much, so much.

Young girls against the ravishing hives.