ONE of the school's Higher English students, Tenci Earnshaw, eliminated all competition in the local heats of the Cowdenbeath Rotary Awards and took the prize for a poem entitled “Reflection”, which is a comment on how human beings treat the planet. 

The Rotary competition saw pupils at Lochgelly and Beath High Schools invited to submit written work, whether it be poetry or prose.

A very engaging writer, Tenci is well on her way to attaining an A grade for her Higher English course this session. 

She and her family look forward to celebrating her success at the Rotary Information evening on Thursday March 9.  Next stop is the District Finals.  Good luck Tenci!

'Reflection'

Eden was a garden of green grass and a little red rose,

Filled with melodies that a song bird would compose,

With all harmony and no pain,

Until the young man cheated for gain

The trees were alive but could not move,

But the young man's wallet, he had to improve,

So down they came with not even a word,

While the song of forewarning was cast absurd

As decades passed, the beautiful garden grew dark,

And it lost its elegant spark,

Where it was once a sacred grove of joy,

It was now a young man's toy

Nature watched as the young man tore their sanctuary to shreds,

With fear, the little bear cubs peeked their heads,

To watch the young man wave his spear,

Laughing at all those who ran in fear

Boasting and bragging, the man tested the enemy,

Yet even when set against talons and naturalistic weaponry,

The man slaughtered and prevailed,

To nature's sorrow; they had failed

And so then the man was praised,

For the clan of man was simply amazed,

At such strength the young man presented,

The force of nature, the clan resented

For centuries, tales passed around,

Of the young man's background,

"We are God's blessed," they chanted,

And in the minds of the men they planted,

An idea that man had no cause of bane,

And from this, they fell very vain

"How gorgeous," a lady would gloat,

As she danced and showed off her lovely fur coat,

And even while taking a nice slow stroll,

The panther's life was bound to her soul

For years, as the sky scrapers grew with grace,

The animals had known their place,

When one feline mother was defencive of her kin,

She was beaten to death with a rolling pin,

But it was her own fault, all-in-all,

For she was not the one in thrall

But then, life began to seem rather cruel,

When the sun set too quickly and the moon began to rule,

Their beloved paradise was now dark and sad,

And all it did was make them mad

The crime rate rose while supplies dropped low,

Because birthing and slaughter was all they could know,

Hospitals were swarmed with the injured and ill,

Yet none were there to pay the long bill

The fields of Africa were cracked and grey,

And all of the elephants were seen as prey,

North, the birds could not fly quick enough South,

So easily fell into the Lord of Death's mouth

Within years, graveyards were commonplace in even streets,

With cold corpses huddled in frosty little sheets,

With so much power yet still so little brawn,

Still the hunter did not grieve for his fawn

When the Earth fell silent, and when life was retiring,

There was finally nothing left to be acquiring,

For man had stolen all of nature's plunder,

Man finally heard Earth's roaring thunder

For they were the one who befouled the grove,

Just for a delightful taste from the stove.

Tenci Earnshaw