Lethe

• Gloria Guo, Grade 10, Ryde Secondary College
• Poetry
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'Read Write Repeat 2015' competition

The world is but an edge away,
A gaping wound in a red horizon
Dogs lap the blood of man and spit out bitterer blood.
One, two, treading softly on the mossy ground,
Clinging to the jagged rocks,
He inches closer—the golden knocker, intricately carved,
He swings it against the marble.
And sweeter lips have not given a sweeter delight than the gentle essence of a brook’s bubbling laugh,
An absentminded caress, a smile that makes a man forget his mother’s name,
She cradles him and murmurs sweet nothings.