Congratulations to Nalia Diaz, a 7th grade winner in the 2021 Young Poets of Delaware County Poetry Contest. Nalia attends Chester Community Charter School and the Out-of-School-Time program at Chester Eastside. One of her favorite activities is traveling with her family to places such as New York and Maryland to visit family. She likes to make jewelry, to paint and draw, to read books, and to write poetry. Nalia plans to become a doctor and would like to write a book. She was inspired to write “Together, We’ll Rise,” for people who are losing hope at any time, but especially when coronavirus caused people like her family to adapt to the new normal. Nalia wants to encourage people never to give up hope no matter what their situation.
Together, We’ll Rise
Today might knock us down
Push us to the ground
But, like butterflies
We’ll rise.
The coronavirus might be in our way
Turning us weaker everyday
Hope may have not yet been found
But that doesn’t mean it’s not around
It’s in you at all times
It’s just that you can’t see it fine
You can’t do anything alone
No one can do it on their own.
For starters
Look at the doctors
They are caring for patients
Not themselves
Despite the damages
Despite the challenges
They still stand
Like a hard-solid bronze statue,
Like statues, they need to be polished
Friends like us wipe their bruises away
We cheer them on
Because our hope for them is never gone
Our cheering helps them shine like a gem
So they see we are here for them.
We may not have our normal lives
But we have something powerful
And no one can take it away
Not the virus
Not bosses
Not bad leaders
Not fears
Not racism
Not stress’s mess
Not quarantine
Not tears
Not problems
Not toxins
Not bullies
Not this dreadful year,
It’s us.
We are connected
Like tree branches
And together,
We’ll rise.
Life won’t look perfect
But that doesn’t mean
Life is ugly
No one
Can face their problems alone
We
Need
To
Do
This
Together
Whether we see it or not
Whether we hear it or not
Whether we feel it or not
Together, we’ll rise.
We will never surrender to evilness
We will strive for what is right
Once a problem shows its hideous head
We
Will
Face
It
Together like parakeets
We will fly in harmony, stick together like glue
our smooth wings will never separate from us, we won’t stop
We’ll be together, when fear doesn’t budge, or when darkness
Grabs us, our white bird selves will fly for eternity.
Together, we’ll rise.
The Poetry Contest is sponsored by the Mad Poets Society, Delaware County Libraries, Keystone State Literacy Association: Delaware County, Rose Tree Media Optimist Club, Pennsylvania Poetry Society and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.