Cash McFarlane, a senior at Polk County Early College, earned second place in the student category of the 11th Annual Sidney Lanier Poetry Competition.

McFarlane placed second with her work, “Nature’s Song.”

Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina’s poet laureate, selected the winning poems.

Nature’s Song

I hum as the sun warms my face with its golden rays

And a rustle comes from the breeze playing with the leaves.

The birds sing their separate songs, each filled with praise

As the trees creak with every push of the wind

And the dry grass crunches with every step of my feet.

Croaking loudly in unison, the toads make themselves known

They startle all with a plop when into the water they drop.

I hear small footsteps of squirrels running through the fallen leaves

As acorns thud the ground and bounce around

The brook babbling as it finds its way down the mountain

And water droplets trickling as they seep through the rocks.

In the distance, there’s a faint screech from a lone hawk

From the high branches the squirrel’s cackle

And from the sky, the crows’ caw

As if they laugh and are saying “haha”

Come play along

This is nature’s song

Submitted by Polkstudents.com