The Girl with Soft White Shoes Lachlan Zhou, Year 11 In fields like the void of a dark night sky And trenches where the screams rise high, A feud that they did not choose, They toast to The Girl with soft white shoes. And in some eyes machinations of Imperfection – the veil sings its supple lullaby. Eyes turned skyward in search of the dove For minds far gone, too late to purify. Yet the thought of home in dread they shrink To face the obscured hissing gaze When set on prey how eyes do sink And grope their way through an endless haze. Distant and alone but beleaguered and observed, Men with silver beards who amusedly misuse Boys with glass eyes and pain undeserved, But still they toast to The Girl with soft white shoes. “Eyes turned skyward in search of the dove For minds far gone, too late to purify.” Lachlan Zhou