- by Katherine Xie, Grade 11

Glittering frost upon the windows; glistening streams down the concrete. The morning rises to a beautiful day: a soft chill, a swift breeze, a glowing sunray. Stand still and watch this brilliant phenomenon. There is no need to remember last night's tears, or think about today's deadlines.

A setting sensation is so common that walkers keep on trudging, eyes fixed forward, mind fixed on the future. How about now? Yes that's what matters.

A moment of stillness and nothingness - think nothing - is nice. Those gathered dreams, scattered and surrendered one after another, fly away into the lighted air; they are impossible. But those don't matter right now. Those confrontations of faults and reasons, yet to come, tauntingly run in the mind. But those don't matter right now. Fantasy is nice. To think no obligations is to think freedom. Just for one moment, reality is unreal, because it doesn't matter. Spread the wings and bathe in sunlight; feel the air tinkle, hear the leaves rustle. For a moment, this is all that matters; this melody is the life of this second.

We're all singers, so sing in your heart. We're all sleepers, so sleep in your mind. We're all achievers, so achieve in your dream. We're all inhabitants, so live.