For What It is Worth ~ Nkazimulo Mvemve

I never really thought that it would come to this  we were so close that if I was apart from you I felt sick, but when I was near you felt alive.
I never really thought that I would catch feelings for you. When they said we would make a cute couple we laughed, but now I wish that it would come true.
I never really saw you like that at first because you were, " just a friend " but that just turned into a" best " and that best turned into love for you in a way that was unexpected.

It was as if someone pulled a switch in my head that controlled my affection for you. Now every time I see you my heart beats, my body heats up and it's like time slows down and everything around you becomes enchanted. Like you were living a fairly tale.
I guess that it's the way you talk and how I find it soothing, or the way you laugh which I find amusing or maybe your smile and your eyes how they blend together to make a picture of upmost beauty. Or maybe the way you look at me as if  your gazing into my soul. Looking right into my innermost thoughts and being.

BUT FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH I never really told you how feel, I was scared that I'd lose you and I guess I was right. I never meant what I said I was being an idiot mocking you of your beauty. I was being a fool. I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU. If I had the power I  change what said and compliment everything  I love about you

And for what it's worth to me please don't forget me even if you don't want anything to do with me. Losing you is like the end for me.



© Nkazimulo Mvemve

***
Grade 11
***

Imploration ~ Ashleigh Skinner

don't turn your back
don't close that door
are you not waiting for me anymore.

the promises we made
the love you gave
do you expect me to believe it just goes away.

with every step
you're losing me
and everything we could have been.

we preached true love
and eternity
playing house with a family.

where'd that dream go
of you and me
it's not my fault I didn't mean to cheat.

I said I was sorry
can't you see
she didn't mean anything like you and me.

don't turn your back
don't close that door
guess there's no us anymore.


© Ashleigh Robin Skinner

***
Grade 12
***

He Has Not Aged Well ~ Nolulama Msomi

He has not aged well.
Sadness,
Lurks over him,
And comforts him like cold blanket.
His permanent scowl, frightens even the gay birds that bless every uncertain day.
Miserable can a man possibly be so?
Side by side with his dominant beloved and his taxing offspring he is distracted
Attempting to experience the feeling even his depressed heart can no longer manufacture:
Elation.
His Dreams
That drowned in a pool of sewerage and wasted talent;
Were replaced by:
Regret for the wrong path he chose.

© Nolulama Msomi

***

Grade 12

***

In Loving Memory of Siphephelo Ndimande ~ Ndabazinhle Gumbi

Reminiscing on the Nostalgic Moments I notice
The many masks you put on just for us,
Just to make our high school days a little bit more bearable;

The times your brushed off your problems and smiled just for us;

The time you packed your problems haphazardly
Spread on the floor of your mind,
So we could get a laugh out of you;

The times you got in trouble
Just so we could have something to talk about after school
The time you had to walk home alone after detention
Because you were too afraid to tell your Grandmother.

We saw you ease through high school because we didn't know your struggles.

Maybe we're cared too about our fun times that we forgot to recognise your heart aches,
Maybe we saw too many of your laughs and didn't notice your pains,
Maybe we asked too much of you when we knew too little...

Sorry it had to end like this man.


© Ndabazinhle Gumbi


***
Grade 12
***

Before You Pull the Trigger ~ Rachel Sinclair

​Before you pull the trigger,
Kick the stool,
Swallow those pills,
Or make the last cut.
Just think, there are so many things more.
Places to see,
People to meet,
Music to take in,
Fields to frolic through,
Books to read,
Games to win,
Art to draw,
And most importantly people to love
So why,
do you wish
to be dead?


©  Rachel Sinclair


***
Grade 8
***

How I Miss You ~ Vuyani Ntshingila

On days like this I sit
Sit and wonder where you are,
How did I ever let you go,
I was foolish and I let
People deceive me,
Oh how I miss you,

You were the sunshine of my life,
The queen of my heart,
How did I ever let you go,
I want to see you again,
Hold you feel your soothing touch on my body,
But I guess my pride deceives me,
Oh how I miss you,
Now that you are gone,
I realise what I had,
I realise what my ego took away from me,
Oh how I miss you.

©  Vuyani Ntshingila


***
Grade 9
***

Life War and Other Poems ~ Celine Hatting

LIFE WAR

Text me first, damnit.
Bring me flowers.
hold doors open.
take my hand and
look at me like
I put the stars in the sky -
because you want to,
not because you have to.

Talk to me -
make poetry of it,
record it,
imprint it into the very
memory of your breakthroughs -
and know.
Know that I will be here
to read it over and over:
because I want to,
 not because I have to.

Build a bubble with me,
and as time escapes us,
pull me in closer
and make our dome smaller
until it is but you and I,
and the world a
rainbow-reflection on the surface
of our sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HALF-WIT REGRET

Burn me
as I have burned you.
But do not use the candle I did,
oh no -
use the scornful words and gazes
of those breathing
to scorch me bare
'till I scream out and regret
not running
when our two stars
shining
first met
and collided
 - shone briefly -
then faded.
For one must choose to
be part of 'society'
or 'love' freely
and I did not choose you.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

APPRENTICE

Rectify me.
Inject your chemical perspective
into the spectrum of my platonic iris
to make blue frost
on the windows to my soul
clear and balanced and summery.
Make my life-taught cynicism
collapse; give way to the
ocean-liner oil-spilt rainbow
  - choke it down -
turn it to idealism.
Turn my heavy black feathers
to white fluttering wings.
Take on a duty
that you were not born with
and have no obligation to take.
Cut me deep.
Diminish the creeping, diseased problems.
Sew me up.
Rectify me.



© Celine Hatting 

 *** 
Matriculated 2014 
 ***