Fire Opal Sunrise

This is the cover art to an assignment for my 12th grade English class. Upon reading Dylan Thomas's "Fern Hill," their assignment was to write a reflection on a setting of their youth. I found this example from a student, Lilly, to be extraordinary. The cover art, beautiful as it was, was one thing; the poetry inside, amazing. It begins:

"Wind in fir trees and buzzing honey bees
were the music of my youth, music when I
danced through an untouchable, dream-like world.
Summer meteor showers and the smell of sun baked 
clay surrounded me wherever I went, and I went wherever
I pleased. Wind in the fir trees and buzzing honey bees 
were the sounds that carried me down the over and 
unders of the shaded forest paths and across lazy
William's Creek."

I read this, and more, amazed at the beautiful imagery and the rhythm of the writing. And I thought, this is one of the most beautiful student poems I've ever read. I finished reading, turned over the page, and found this line:

"This is bad, sorry, but I have never had any talent for poetry."

That broke my heart. For someone with such an obvious gift of language and image and words...to have so little regard and confidence in herself, it literally broke my heart. I called her aside, later in the class, and told her what a beautiful poem it was, what talent she had, and how she must keep writing. She seemed a little embarrassed, but at the same time she was grateful and inspired. I told her that she needed to enter that in a poetry/creative writing contest. 

I am not sure what happens to many of us to stifle our creativity, but that's what has happened with Lilly. Maybe she'll continue now...I certainly hope so. She obviously has the gift. Lilly's was a Fire Opal Sunrise gift to me today.