Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200 Sage Millen, 13Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
June 2022
Willow Grove
My eyes open and smile as I hear the young cry of a rooster. I look up to the sky and say good morning to the world. The Snow Queen greets me with a benevolent gift of a curly white blossom. I smell the fresh gift of the queen as I emerge from the house to visit the world outside, plucking a myriad of rainbow blossoming buds that look like an endless field of happiness, dancing with the creatures of the world. A cry from the goose, whose tender feathers look like a long carpet of shining silk, calls the flock. The flock comes to their humble leader and dances with the sun. A splatter from the brook brings delightful treasures sent as gifts to our beloved Willow Grove. I stretch out my young hands hoping for permission to drink the water as though I could be drinking beauty itself. In return, I pick a tender daisy and carefully give it to the stream. I look to the sun and say a humble thanks for this providential act of kindness the world has given me. Eily A. Chiu, 9Virginia Beach, VA
Chinese Test
For Mason, a Chinese test feels like an odyssey It is time for the Chinese test to begin. I pick up my pencil, and focusedness is on my face as I write. Intensity stretches across the room with each moment. It is silent—so silent that I can hear the birds chirping . . . until . . . Oh, no! I forgot one of my words! I think to myself, I can’t fail after all this practice. I think harder than I ever have. Even the loudest sounds can’t distract me. Finally, I think of it! Calmness rises over the stress and intenseness as I calmly write each word. I finish the first page, then the second. Excitement rises in my stomach. “I’m almost finished,” I say to myself. The third page is the hardest. I close my eyes as I let the nervousness flow out of my mouth, and I suck the courage in. I open my eyes and start writing again. Third and last page is complete! No—wait. Still one question . . . Excitement fades away. It’s the longest of all—write a Chinese paragraph. Each finished word disappears out of my mind, and each word ahead appears. It’s like a bridge forming ahead and pieces falling behind. As I take steps on the developing bridge in my head, the bank comes closer with each step I take. Excitement rises higher and higher in my stomach. Light closes upon me: I’m finished at last! Mason Li, 8Berwyn, PA
