Winner: Hope Simpson,

Hope Simpson’s poem ‘You Taught Me’ is the recipient of a 2020 Newcastle Poetry Competition Young People’s Prize.

You Taught Me

You taught me that:

Tomorrow,

The birds will still sing

And, the sea waves will still swell

And, sunrise will come again.

I watch

You watch

The adolescent magpies fledge

(Agitated and sensitive)

No longer reliant, yet,

They will return.

You showed me a healthy family,

You gave me an infancy rich with freedom,

You told me to remember the things

You taught me.

To wake and listen

To the endless birdsong;

To travel and sing,

Too, like the sparrows;

To do your best

To prove you can;

To give everything

To the ones you love.

Hope Simpson, 17