Heart and Mind by Sophia Kunkel (18, Pennsylvania)*

Inquires the capricious heart to the voice of reason:
I gaze at dazzling dreams dancing on clouds, promising possibility, 
Saturated with the hope of love and passion,
Humming to me, sweet as stardust,
But I am shackled to the dead, silent earth
Like a fallen angel forever separated from the light. 
Why must you torture me so?

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Reminds the voice of reason to the capricious heart:
I see dreams tainted with poisonous failure,
Tear-sodden cheeks, devastated souls, and 
The howls of the lonely, dripping with sorrow;
You shall soar too high, catapulting into the wrong star,
Or miss the mark entirely, blazing like a meteor across the black abyss.
Better to be shackled than eaten by the darkness.