Midnight Mirror (Inspired By Australian Masked Owl)

• Julia Bell, Grade 8, Catholic Ladies' College
• Poetry
• 2022

1st in the 'National Treasures 2022' competition

Your lonesome wings that split the night,
Grow numb without the warm.
You fought with all you had to give,
Yet still you fly forlorn.
The memories of your sunlit past,
From your chest, stream crimson blood.
You mask the pain but fly away,
In search of the one you loved.
Press your heart to the midnight mirror,
Share with me all your pain.
Do you long for the sun to rise again,
And kiss away the rain?
You hate the dull and ceaseless night,
But that’s all that you have left.
Since your sun has left you weeping here,
Dreading every lonely breath.