The Iowa Poetry Association released its annual 2022-23 school year awards. Oak View 8th grader Bronwyn Squires is receiving statewide recognition! Her piece, “Her Spirit Live On”, will be appearing in Lyrical Iowa 2023. There were 332 student entries in her division (grades 5-8), Bronwyn is one of 20 that will be published! This is a tremendous accomplishment!
“Her Spirit Lives On”
Through all the struggle, all the pain, from all the waiting comes a great gain
A new life came into the world; soft, light, on the bed it’s curled
First one winter, then two, then three
What once was small and feeble, now runs free
All the seasons, then once more; what once was one year, now is four
Then, on one horror-struck day; this life, once new, for it they prayed
Because the doctors, they knew not, of what made this child’s heart rot
And so, they wished, and wondered, and waited
But the news they got, they so hated
Too much sorrow, sadness, and grief; the child’s body then rested, six feet deep
Before they left, tears flowing fast, the child’s mother turned, looking back
There was something missing by the new marble stone, for only one tree stood in the graveyard, alone
The next day, and the one after that
The mother came back, and back, and back
To plant the seed, to help it grow; through all the rain, and hail, and snow
This mother kept coming, time and time again, and when she would stop, no one knew when
Because the mother of her child knew, that this tree, her daughter’s spirit lives through