28th of May 2020
Today's poem has been chosen by Mindfulness Chaplain, Dr Kitty Wheater.
'Fountains', by Azfa
Azfa is a pupil at Oxford Spires Academy.
OSA is a state secondary school in Oxford, where pupils speak thirty different languages. For several years, the Scottish poet Kate Clanchy has been writer in residence at OSA, teaching children to write poetry. She regularly features their beautiful work on her Twitter feed, and her book, Some Kids I Taught And What They Taught Me, has been shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2020.
Azfa wrote 'Fountains' when she was 16.
Fountains
I have not heard
The opera in New York
But I have heard
The bagpipes
In Scotland
An alien bird with tartan feathers
Wild as a peacock
With a mushy haggis heart
I have not heard
The soaring Gospel
But I have heard
The Holy Quran
It's sweet za zam water
Dripping slowly slowly
through the stream beds
of my eardrums, slipping through
my veins to my heart,
a ruby, drumming throne.
I have not heard
The President's speech,
But I have heard
My Dad's honourable advice.
His voice a messenger riding
from his mind which is
an overflowing fountain
of knowledge, springing
from his journeys
and splashing me with wonder
from head to toe.