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WINNER - Joseph Spriggs 12 years old
King Edward VI School
Joe says: 'I am delighted to have had my poem chosen as the winner of my category. This is one of the first competitions that I have entered my writing into and to win makes it even more wonderful. It has been brilliant and hopefully will not be the last time I enter a competition! I enjoy nature writing, as it helps us connect with nature, especially with global warming and climate change becoming an increasingly more urgent issue.'
Peggy Hughes, judge of 11-13 category says: “This sweet, seemingly simple little lullaby is underpinned by a really impressive technical ability and control of rhyme and rhythm giving it a lovely musical quality. I love the repeated opening exhortation - 'Come, little fledgling' - and how it charts the various stages of being fledged in each stanza - hatching, finding your feet, singing etc. There's an incantatory or prayerful quality to this piece, that hopes for safety while acknowledging that danger is never far away: a hope that speaks to humans as well as baby birds. Bravo.”
Finch’s Lullaby
by Joseph Spriggs Age 12
Come, little fledgling, hatch from your egg
Curled up inside, all beak, wing, and leg
Soon you will enter the mossy wooden cell
But for now you remain in the safety of your shell
Come, little fledgling, find your feet
Your mother and father will help you to eat Soon you will leave the door of the nest
But for now, little fledgling, you need to rest
Come, little fledgling, learn to sing
On house and tree let your notes ring
Soon you will leave through the darkening door But for now, little fledgling, tweet, chirp and caw
Come, little fledgling, dance through the night Past sleepy windows, out of sight
Soon you will find yourself behind locked doors
But for now, little fledgling, avoid death’s claws
So, come, little fledgling, hatch from your egg Enter this world and its joys I beg
Soon you will discover the wonders of life
But for now little fledgling remain far from strife
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