Choices! by Alona (Year 7, LGGS)
They can be right, they can be wrong
They can be in a poem or a song
They can lead us on different paths
Like talking, running or taking a bath
Choices are made everywhere
It’s up to you, no one will care
India, Bulgaria, Jamaica or Spain
You could be grateful or it could end in pain
Pancakes or waffles I can’t decide
Is this all just a part of life
It is so unfair sometimes
To choose one thing you like
But just remember it’s up to you
To do what your heart tells you to do!
The Exit Model by Richard Hayes
Those days were sadness, had there been some grace
I surely would have stayed, but chose to go.
The multitude said nothing to my face,
but set a space
between our ebb and flow;
or thus it seemed, mistrust would have it so.
Though one, perplexed, appealed for delay,
I said, “What shall be gained in choosing ‘no’
when troubles overwhelm me day by day.”
For I had snapped my fingers at the man
and wouldn’t just go back – and less he chide
“He couldn’t finish what he first began”
I fled and ran
with no one else beside.
And most considered this a suicide;
but then it hardly mattered, for they shut
their eyes so tight and mine felt open wide
and brooked no argument, dissent or but.
How long I thought before my spirit break:
I turned my back and fled that countryside.
and left the land of birth (now wide awake)
before the shake
of troubled weeping died:
and dropped my head into my hands and cried:
“What purpose to my lone and long pretence
the things that mattered most – were most denied
when blind enough to scorn the consequence.”
I told them all, “the end would be the same.”
To choose had ceased to be a true debate.
And last of all the final moment came
to shoulder blame
and go beyond the gate
into the land of faith. Nor would I wait
‘good byes’ which lacked a vigour in the grip,
that fears the inquisition of the great,
to show a spark of human fellowship.
Every Twenty Seconds by Peter Haywood
Every twenty seconds
a light goes out on earth,
for death has overtaken
what recently was birth.
Every twenty seconds
our greed is shown again.
The earth with all its riches
yet cannot cure the pain.
Every twenty seconds
the whimpered cries are still..
For here’s a simple truth
It’s our greed that makes the kill.
Every twenty seconds
this evil strikes again.
Another child has died,
pathetic silent pain.
Every twenty seconds
tanks, aircraft bought and sold.
The hospital that is not
leaves millions in the cold.
Every twenty seconds
a family deep in grief.
When such as fair trade shopping
could bring so much relief.
Every time we’re thankful
for blessings we enjoy.
Sorry too for the neglect
and lives we all destroy.
Choose to Play by Katy Marshall
There are winners, there are losers
We simply can’t be choosers
In the lottery of life we have to play.
There are losers there are winners
There are enders and beginners
But the game is there for playing every day.
So each day take up your racket
And aim and swing and smack it
For the years are like a river running by.
And before you kick the bucket
Just begin it and say blow it
Or regret you missed your chances when you die.
Choice by Lenny (Year 8, LGGS)
No choice can be found,
It can not be seen or heard,
Choice is silent as a mouse.
Choice spreads across the world,
Silently capturing people,
Like a fish in an invisible net.
Unable to break free,
From the tight grasp of choice,
Like a rabbit in a snare.
Choice never leaves you,
It follows you around,
Like a loyal dog at your heel.
A thousand million stars
Line the horizon, without ever
Asking where you’re going, or
If you know
You’re homeward bound. It is a great sea
We’re sailing, this life,
And this current wave
Is all you know. A silent seabird
Flies low, brushing your face
With his wing; later it will brush the sky
Opening an answer in between the stars.
Dance
Without holding onto anything.
Small steps: All is Possible by Bryony Rogers
We are always making
small steps, every one a choice.
Each small thing – like the fern
unfurling –
still
leaves room for
the vast expanse
of the star-filled sky.
Inside and around us, the space breathes
and opens
and everything is possible
