Magpie

• Michelle Wang, Grade 6, Summer Hill Public School
• Poetry
• 2010

1st in the 'Pieces of Paradise 2010/2011' competition

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,
Pitied is the vanity of sheer vengeance-
For lying in justice is seldom truth
And petty satisfaction in mere penance.

The Magpie, all swathed in day and night,
Shall weep into the genesis innocence,
But beware what skulks in black and white,
For crocodiles’ tears bear dissonance.

Ignorance is the key to Hades’ gate-
It bleeds and forgets mortal guilt,
In the benevolent the Devil lurks and awaits
The destruction of the crucifix goodwill built.

Oh Magpie, what divine hands forged thy evil eye?
Yet bestowed an unlikely love so smooth,
A Magpie’s lie is never a lie,
And its truth is never truth.