School’s Inaugural Student Poet Laureate Announced
Published by Burgess Hill Girls on Tuesday 27th of October 2026
We are delighted to announce the winner of our National Poetry Day competition and the appointment of our first Student Poet Laureate.
- Second Place: Arrow (Year 10)
- Joint Third Place: Aadhya (Year 7) and Eva (Year 10)
When I was seven,
The moon followed me.
I could see it
Between the branches,
Then hiding behind the rooftops,
Then caught in the window of my bedroom.
I was certain it was following me.
Curiosity tugged at me,
But I never wondered
How something so far away
Could know where I lived.
I simply believed it did.
Did it?
Back then,
Puddles were oceans,
And gardens were jungles.
Shadows stretched their fingers
Across my bedroom wall
And I was never afraid –
Because perhaps
They were only just trying to say
Hello.
I collected fallen auburn leaves,
As if the tall trees
Had written me letters
I stared at the stars,
Spotted constellations,
Wondering what each shape could be –
A dog, perhaps,
Or a bear,
Until my neck hurt.
Wondering which one
Might be looking back.
But then I grew older.
Not enough to notice the change,
But enough for the wonder to
Slip
Away.
The world became ordinary.
It happened quietly.
The puddles became puddles,
The leaves became leaves.
The stars became
Something you could just ignore
On the walk home.
And the moon –
The moon was just the moon.
I learned the names for things
And somehow
Forgot how to wonder at them.
Years passed.
I stopped looking up.
Until one evening,
Walking home beneath
The same pale light,
I noticed the moon –
Again.
Quietly following me
Between the rooftops.
For a moment,
I was seven.
And I wondered
Perhaps the moon
Had never stopped following me.
Perhaps
I had just simply stopped
Looking back.
