Bandon Grammar School, Clancool More, Bandon, Co. Cork

Tired

I’m tired of putting on a smile
I’m tired of acting like it’s all ok
Like I don’t notice
When I go home and cry
And wish it would all go away

I’m tired of feeling hopeless
Because nobody knows that this is a real diagnosis
They say depression isn’t the same as being sick
And then they call me fat.
Just to get a kick

I wish I could stop the stigma
Or break the silence
Because speaking up is better than solving it with violence
Speak up, speak out
Let’s educate them on what depression is all about.

Let’s stop the stigma and let’s break the silence
Because life isn’t always about violence.

Anon

The Thoughts

The thoughts are gone
The mind draws blank
Eyes struggle to stay ajar
The mist of the darkness
Comes to life
Drifting away
The world at your feet

Charlotte Greene

The Night

The vicious, violent darkness of the night
Where the evilness of the deceased comes back into sight
No one is safe and no one knows right
Until we get back to the safeness of the light

There is trouble during the night
So we have happiness and peace during the day light
But I’m not afraid of the dark only when I hear dogs bark.
Until I hear silence.

Mitchell Connolly

These Walls

A time of peace and hope.
Where men laughed and knowledge was valued.
These walls watched as hope became stale and peace turned sour.
Where a lust for power and wealth corrupted souls.
A world plunged into the darkness of uncertainty rampant in conflict.
These walls remember the sickly sweet smell of evil.
And now that the land is deserted,
The walls have peace again in the unbroken silence.
But they can’t help but think that the peace doesn’t feel the same.

Thomas Dodd

Hope

Hope is born through strife difficulty
Hope grows into a flourishing passion rich and free
These people look up to giants laden in gold wishing they were as bold
Only one can reach the summit
All others tossed aside on the slopes of disappointment
This is where I wish to be as this wild world is where I am free

Ruairi Falvey

Afraid

You are afraid
They are scaring you
They are hunting you
They are waiting for the right moment
You live in fear
And they will haunt you
When you least expect it

Leander Schmid

Untitled

Where
Toilets are vandalised
Where
Tests are taken and dreams are destroyed
Where
Teachers are power high and students suffer
Where
The diligent are rewarded and the creative are crushed

Donnacha Falvey

The Engines Roar

The engines roar every morning,
While driving their passengers,
Throughout the country,

Wild animals sprint across,
Trying to avoid speeding cars and vans,

The cyclist gasps,
Looking for breath,
As he cycles up the steep road

Ben Beltoise

The First Day

The first day
Scared and lost in the hall
A shriek echoes…
It rings about us along the walls
Huddled up in a corner
We look to him, with fear and bold
He begins his sprint
The final sprint is in the cold

Anon

Break Free

I come to break free
Where the wind howls against the cliffs
With mesmerising ferocity
And the waves crash
Steadily yet wild

Friends are made
Battling the elements
Where Atilla was
Long ago
And inspired future generations
To explore

Max Riome

The Darkness

It wants to consume your happiest thoughts
And flash out dome darker ones
It wants to create a soulless mind
And wants to pull your soul to the mines

The darkness of the mine takes your sane mind
And turns it into an insane soulless mind
This soulless mind wonders around the in the dark
Not knowing where to go it falls down a dark trap.

Atilla Percze

The Stories

The stories of lives gone by
Of joy and grief
Of growth and prosperity

Tales long forgotten
Of inner demons and turmoil
Where laughs and shrieks echoed along

The long, hot summers
And endless, bitter winters
The birth of spring
And death of autumn

The innocence and naivety
Turns to insecurity and self-doubt
Then finally, in the end
Confidence and self-worth

The thrill of success
And sharp sting of loss
Where one learns who they are
And faces the reality of life.

Niamh Hudson

The Sun Shines

The sun shines
Across the glamorous sea and land
Sounds of kids’ laughter
That puts a smile on your face

The fun happens
To be with your friends and family
To relax and to be energetic

Reiltín Ogden

We

We broke the law but got away with it
We found new friends and had fun times
We found new drinks and drank the hole
Night
We found new love and lost old
The toilet is where the calls are answered and the parents are suspicious
This we had the best fun of our lives

Dylan O Driscoll

A World

The ocean wants
A world where little kids don’t have to fight
A world where helpless people will get a light
A world where everybody is loved
A world where nobody is unobserved.

The ocean dreams of a world
A world where there is no war
A world where people stop to hate
A world where people don’t manipulate.

The ocean dreams of a world
We all dream of a world
Where is the change?
Come out of your cage.

Kira

Where

Where birds fly all day long and kids run by playing soccer,
This place belongs to people that can be themselves,
Who aren’t afraid of being unique,
People that see that the sky is blue and the moon shines bright,
Where people sleep all day and party all night.
This is a place that does not exist.

Maryann Spencer

Children

Children’s dreams are crushed to become adults’ views,
People with short tempers may blow a fuse,
Loud mouths try being funny but come to no amuse,
People are converted from water to booze,
Children try hide not to become school news.

Students are shuffled further along the factory line,
People are roughed to have no individual shine,
Children are judged unfairly based on their bloodline,
Knowledge is increased with imagination on the decline,
When you’re asked how you’re doing, “oh I’m just fine”

Mark Collins

I Live

I live, for the scarce moments of incomprehensible beauty going unseen somewhere.

Somewhere within the vast kaleidoscope of unforgiving power, softly nurturing the world,

Somewhere on the cocoon of life and death.

Somewhere on the ocean.

Adam

These Walls

The bad times
Good rhymes
The young faces
The different places

As it comes closer to that time of year
You’d miss it, all that cheer
This house was once home of twenty
Is close to empty

Jeff Williams

Deliverance

A power with the force of Armageddon
An impact like a thunderbolt from heaven

From above comes something that was shoved
From the high walls comes a sudden flash flood

Nearby there is a cloth used to clean
Placed on the surface with a shiny white sheen

These walls remember a throne where a king would sit
For this is the place where I go to crumble

Fionn Magee

Struggles

Lucy drank out of her Hawaiian themed bottle,
Daniel wrote a poem on a torn piece of paper,
As Simon stared questioningly,
I noticed how small my pen was,
And Ed rhymed the word heaven with Huw Bevan,
While Lily made Adam and Jeff uncomfortable,
And Jan struggled to write,
I also struggled to write.

Anon

The Darkness

What the darkness wants
Is to stay a little longer
With shorter days
He’s getting stronger

As months go past
Light comes back
And the darkness wants to conquer

Ed

Acts

The vile acts and dangerous acts
Of men killing in the streets.
Lonely lost children
No homes to feel the warmth of a hot fire.

These walls know the echoes of drunken men swearing
And dancing in the dark alleyway, no care in the world.

Large building walls feeling the empty words of shoppers walking home on Christmas.
Walls, giving shelter to the cold and dying homeless in the depth of winter.

The walls know everything but sit and watch in silence.

Iona

Contemplation

In 107 a class gathered all day long,
A poet came, the truth was told.
I found myself gazing as Alana discovers a small, stick-size pen
Meanwhile Huw Bevan’s name was being rhymed with seven
Adam and Jeff were engaging in intimate eye contact.
I contemplated the substance of my poem
I finished my questionable poem

Lucy Foley

Where

Men where forged
And boys where lost
Where tears dropped
This is where we came
We fought here
We slept here
We own here

Anon

The Bitter Ocean

The bitter ocean wind blows,
The edge of the world beneath your feet,
You really don’t know the point anymore,
Looking down into an endless abyss.

You think of what could have been,
But push that aside understanding all you’ve done wrong,
You didn’t tell anybody where you’re going,
But that might be for the best that they’re not knowing.

Harry Forsey

My Legacy

My sweaty bloody
Fist strikes down
My opponent
To the hard
White wicked
Boxing ring
This is where I
Protects my legacy

Mathieu Cronin

Where

Where the waves are twisting and turning
Churning and whirling
The little boat sways from side to side
And all the fish, have gone to hide
I wish I had not lied
For I wouldn’t have to worry about the tide
And I’d be at home inside

Ben O’Connor

We Remember

We remember
The nostalgic aura that filled the air
The sun beating down that perpetually glowed
The euphoric smiles of people passing by
Each hand that picked the dainty daisies

Ellie McGeoghan

The Shadows

What the shadows whisper is really very strange,
The things I hear them saying are really very deranged,
From in behind your wardrobe or underneath your bed,
They talk about stabbing you, or ripping off your head.
I told your mother about the problem and she was very worried,
And in a second, without hesitation, straight into your room she hurried.
She looked all around the room, in every nook and cranny,
And what she found behind the wardrobe was awfully uncanny.
A little goblin, small and green, no bigger than a mouse,
Living with his goblin family in his little goblin house.
Your mother tried to stamp on him but the goblin did explain,
That he was in fact a playwrite, and this was his domain.
He apologized for the house and promised to keep it down,
And sent your mother on her way, bossing her around.
So that night you went to bed, looking forward to sleep,
Ready for the night ahead, ready to count sheep.
But there was one place she didn’t check, right under the bed,
Which is probably why in the morning, you didn’t have a head.

Donald Thomson

Where

The grass is green
It’s always raining
All my friends are
I live
I belong
This is Ireland

Jordan Bennett

Remember

They remember the lonely nights spent staring into space
Behind glazed eyes filled with tears
They have seen the darkness develop and grow within you
Until it is the only darkness and all of you is gone
Until you are a hollow shell of darkness with no emotion
Just numb

Anon

Sometimes

This is where the fish are red
Sometimes they are blue
Sometimes they are green
Sometimes they are just fish.

This is where the birds are red
Sometimes they are blue
Sometimes they are green
Sometimes they are just birds.

Solomon Grunwell

Where

The slither of water runs down the side of the glasss
Where the fraught of the pint stays under the nose of a happy man
Where the craic do be had on a wet day
This is the club house

David O Donovan

Untitled

A forgotten past
Where your dreams seemed to last
A day without the pouring rain
Without your troubles or your pain
A simple man
With a masterplan
A lost girl
Walking through a lonely world

Anon

In the Depths

In the depths of beyond
The ice cold water swallows all
From little fishes to slugs with eyes of which they have four.

In a shaded garden of which I am so fond
Although there is nothing to hear your call
I’d be happy to stay there forever more.

Tiarnan Brown

Where

This is where we are living
We are living with tons of trash
That are dumped by people everyday
And that are very harmful to us

This is where we are living
The land and water creatures are being destroyed
The animals are cruelly being killed
And the air is heavily polluted.

Haian Nguyen

When I Play

When I play ball
When I play ball, I feel free. I feel I can be who I want to be.
When I run down the wing, it could be Autumn or Spring,
Regardless I feel like a king
When I play ball.

Ben O’Callaghan

Untitled

You held my hand when I was small
You were my hero standing tall
We never got to say goodbye
But I know your still flying high

A million times, I needed you
A million times, I cried
If love alone could save you
You never would have died

I’ll always miss you dad
But I’ll keep on going strong
Because I know you’re watching over me
Until life no longer goes on

Anon

Untitled

Nyssa loves the patio
Loves running round in squares, not circles
Can’t go onto the grass though

Her ears are way too small for her head
She doesn’t like the hoover
When she won’t get out of the car
My gran has to go and mover

Diet of pork chops and dirt
Doesn’t like da snow
You can rub her all you want
But make sure you approach from below

She’s a lovely little person and an excellent muse
But I don’t think anyone likes a puppy who pees in your shoes

Anon