Student's poem wins award; addresses drugs

The Lesson
Their son was born
They raised him well
He never lied
They could always tell
He made new friends
This year at school
They broke the rules
He thought they were cool

They talked him into
Things that were bad
He threw away
All the sense that he had
From his parents
He started to drift
It was drugs
That caused this rift
Where is their son?
Where did he go?
It turned him into someone
They didn't know
They reached out to him
But it was too late
Taking too many pills
Had become his fate
On that horrible night
They rushed to his side
A few minutes later
Their son had died
His body couldn't
Put up a fight
He died from something
That just wasn't right
The heartbreak in his father's
eyes

Alone in her son's room, his
mother cries
Were they both so very wrong
To hope their son would be so
strong?
He'll never get another chance
He'll never go to his first
dance
Never again will they see him
smile
He'll never give them their
first grandchild

Let this be a lesson to all
With friends and family you'll
never fall
Drugs can ruin a healthy mind
And hurt the others left behind
Emilee Oransky
Simi Valley

Editor's note: Emilee, a seventh-grader at Valley View Middle School, won first place with this poem about the effect of drug use in a Red Ribbon Week poetry contest in Mrs. Erickson's homeroom.