Good Luck!

Tomorrow is the day; after weeks of reading and discussing vairous South African Short Stories we are finally going to write the 3 hour English Olympiad! I hope all participants are inspired and ready to write essays and creative writing pieces that they'll be proud of.

If you haven't yet fallen in love with literature here is an amazing poem by GCINA MHLOPE; it's called IN THE COMPANY OF WORDS.

"It is truly marvellous, wonderful and comforting

To know that I have eyes to read

Hands that can write

And an enormous love for words

I am lucky to be speaking a few extremely beautiful languages

For I love words – language’s ancestor

When I’m happy, words define my happiness

When I’m sad and confused

Words turn into clay and allow me

To mould and remould my muddled up thoughts

Till I find inner peace in my soul

Had I to choose, between weeping and reading

I’d most definitely choose reading,

A good book

For I have proof, for aches and tensions

It works!

Countless times I’ve turned my back on pain

And found friends in characters from far off lands

Countless times I’ve defied anger

And caressed my nerves with an old comic book

Countless nights I’ve triumphed over insomnia

And had a heart to heart talk with my pen and paper

I come to my desk in the dead of night

I sit, without a clue as to how I wish to start

But then, before I know it, words of all types and sizes

Come rushing unto my finger tips

As I feel my whole body smile

I welcome them every single one of them

Like the good old friends that they are

When they start dancing in large circles around me

Throwing teasing wordy circles on my walls

I am convinced that I was not born to be bored

For how indeed can boredom even begin to penetrate

My timeless word circle

Now you see, why I’m so content

In the company of words"