1st Place (English Poetry)

A Shepherd’s Sonnet

By Jong Oledan

The day You gave me that breathtaking smile

Was the day I began to care living.

For, though I did not mind walking a mile,

From where I came, there was so much lacking.

It happened first on a balding pasture

Where thinning sheep chilled to death while asleep.

Lo! From the half-torn heaven came a choir

Of angels gifting glad tidings to keep.

The guiding Star conquered the cunning Night;

The darkness ended with Your mother’s bid.

Mildly gazing, you took away my fright,

Which, in my eager waiting, shrewdly hid.

I had never thought that moment could be

God’s very self becoming gift to me.