Poetry

Young Poet Laureate for Herefordshire

Sapphire de Sousa Stayton won the Poet Laureate for Herefordshire competition in June 2009. She will be in post until the next Young Poet Laureate is announced on National Poetry Day 9th October 2010.  The competition to find the next poet will begin in July 2010 and will be launched at the Ledbury Poetry Festival.

Sapphire's latest poem .........

Smelling Snow

A fragment of a second,
A minute less than time,
It was gone before I realised
That it was there and mine.

It was faster than the speed of light,
As calming as the sea.
As confusing as a Labyrinth
Of which you can’t get free.

It had the wonder of a waterfall,
The intensity of the sun.
The freeness of a child
In the meadow having fun.

It brought me all my memories
Of winters, Christmases past.
Hanging out the stockings,
Building snowmen in the park.

On that calm day in October,
When the sun was slipping low,
That moment in early autumn,
That’s when I smelt the snow.