By ELS Newspaper, 04.03.2024
On 29.02.2024, in the “Petya Dubarova” public hall at the “Sea Casino” Cultural Centre of Burgas, a magical poetic and musical performance was held to mark the closing award ceremony of the IV poetry and digital art contest “SEA OF LOVE”, praising Love in all its forms and manifestations, nominating 7 poems in Bulgarian, 7 in English, and 7 digital art drawings. Here are the winners in EN Poetry:
POETRY IN ENGLISH, WINNERS
2nd place: “To love a father at all”
by Katerina Ivanova Tsaneva, 11.g class, ELS “Geo Milev”
To love a father, at all
Bleak mirror on the wall
who’s the farthest of them all?
The father, proud and tall
or the one declining his call?
Did my adolescence
push away your presence?
I no longer needed
on your shoulders to be held.
My childhood ended –
is that what you had sensed?
Was my change
at the expense
of us being friends?
Your bother is no longer young.
With my mother’s tongue
I speak
and you think
I’m being weak.
You told the same lies
to the same set of eyes,
looking at yourself,
as I saw myself.
You lied to your mind
and you lost your kind.
And my mirror is cracked
without an impact
on the doubled reflection,
not knowing affection…
Every time I disappear
because I feel too much fear,
I knew you’d understand,
because you, too, strand
from the ones you love.
Would you live a loveless life
if all you’ve felt
is lifeless love?
I don’t feel love.
There’s an absence –
a gaping hole
between me and a life of love.
The mirror never answers
because nobody asks.