Presentation of National Award for Junior Poetry to Marcus Hodelet of Aberdeen Hall Preparatory School in Kelowna.
A Grade 6 student at Aberdeen Hall Preparatory School has won a prestigious award for a poem he wrote about Remembrance Day.
Marcus Hodelet, from Oyama, was presented with a plaque as well as monetary award in honour of his moving poem which he read to the school assembly on Grand Parents Day.
A plaque was also presented to the school in honour of his achievement.
Royal Canadian Legions across Canada sponsor these awards by asking schools to have students submit paintings, prose or poetry to them.
The submissions are judged at the local level, and advance to both zone and provincial evaluations.
The provincial winners are displayed in the Parliament buildings in Ottawa for one year.
Hodelet’s poem reads as follows:
Remember
The poppy falls
Upon the grave
Just like soldiers
Whose lives they gave
The war is over
The soldier goes home
He can never forget
Some will never do so
He remembers.
Through the long winter nights
The family waited
For their own brave knight
By the war he was baited
The grief that they felt
When they were told
Their warrior son
Would not live to be old
They remember.
The blood-red petals
Fly through the crosses
The wind carries them
On wings of losses
And under the earth
The men are trapped in their tomb
And even time itself
Cannot heal this wound
We remember.
Through the streets and towns,
We remember!
Through the cities and provinces,
We remember!
Through the entire nation,
We all remember!
And through evern single
Person too
The soldiers souls
Reside in you
We shall always remember
The peace that we gain
Their loyal sacrifices
Have not been in vain.