List of 20 news stories.

• A Little Bit of Everything

  Mr. Fitz
  I used to wake up
  To the smell of coffee every morning,
  Soft notes of french vanilla
  Drifting through the door,
  Sweet and steady as your voice
  Calling me to breakfast.
  
  I never needed to drink it
  To feel the warmth it carried.
  You’d offer me a cup anyway,
  And somehow, that was enough.
  . . .

• Bedtime Thoughts

  Ruby Meyers '26
  Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.
  Don’t stay up too late, you will need your rest.
  Sweet dreams, tomorrow morning will be bright
  
  and early, you will go to start the fight.
  It’s not your job to always be the best.
  Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite
  . . .

• Mosaic of the Times

  Helena Wang '27
  The beat echoes through your chest,
  banging against your ribcage until your
  bones crackle—each rupture steady,
  like your strides into your very first birthday party,
  just before somebody
  gags on your shirt.
  . . .

• Nine Lives

  Aiden Chan '26
  If I had nine lives
  
  I’d spend the first one
  learning how to breathe again.
  To quiet the panic,
  Let the fear loosen its grip,
  Instead of pulling me under.
  Maybe after I swim to the surface,
  I’ll finally find peace and
  Won’t be afraid of the ocean.
  . . .

• Sensory Sound

  Ruby Meyers '26
  The sound of soft wind howling through a space,
  Created by the absence of the leaves,
  Leaves echoes in my ears I’ve tried to trace
  To my serene heart as it softly grieves.
  . . .

• Strange Fellows

  Sarah Li '30
  Such strange fellows they are who set their feet in this world.
  That they’ll not show their teeth in way of smile,
  . . .

• Sunset Lake

  Felipe Silva '29
  As I gaze upon the lake water, Helios’ design in the sky
  hugs the setting sun, like the branches of a maple tree
  merging into a canopy of scarlet-tinted leaves and lights.
  
  As clear as truth itself, every detail of the lake
  sings Helios’ ballad, projecting each stroke of his art.
  . . .

• That Kind of Love

  Amaya Flores-Montero '29
  That soft kind of love
  In the morning when sun bathes over you both, and you understand the true meaning of the
  word “content”
  When you walk together and his hand brushes yours, three fingers whispering three simple
  words
  When it’s late in the night and he pulls you closer,
  When you two watch a movie and you feel calloused hands massaging your neck, his breath on
  your face
  When you’re in the car and his head finds its way to your shoulder, and warmth spreads through
  you.
  When you wear his clothes and his scent consumes you and you feel so safe.
  . . .

• The Child of the Regiment

  Ashley Deng '27
  The stone is cold beneath me.
  It seeps through the coat,
  too heavy for my shoulders,
  too big to be mine.
  It smells like smoke and baguette
  and someone else’s home.
  . . .

• Uncurtained

  Mr. May
  Curtainless Georgian windows
  facing East atop hill,
  over ivy company town,
  glaze shadeless students
  in blazing glare,
  . . .

• War Torn

  Ashima Bakshi '31
  The ruins of a thousand lifetimes
  Lay among the yellow buttercups in a field,
  The Roman Empire has fallen.
  . . .

• 2025 Daystar Haiku Contest Winners

  Juliette Watson '30, Vidwan Aryan '27
  Daystar once again hosted our annual Haiku Contest. A haiku is a 3-line poem, where the first and last lines have five syllables and the second line has seven syllables.
  . . .

• Beginning

  Amelia Andersson '28
  Fireworks
  
  Exploding out of the depth of winter
  
  Fracturing the desperate clench of death....
  . . .

• Boom Boom Aesthetic

  Camille Pittard '29
  on Instagram feeds martini glasses clink in
  what feels like a never-ending loop,
  photo carousels from nights out show
  low-lit steakhouses, tartare and souffles, and
  what, in this economy, is screaming Luxardo cherries?...
  . . .

• C

  Aaliyah Padilla '25
  it’s become more of a silent whisper
  on sidewalks
  taxis
  familiar places
  unfamiliar places
  saying to just go.
  going, gone.
  . . .

• El Abrazo de Puerto Rico y Hawái

  Gabriella Rinaldi '26
  Ay, me duele la cabeza.
  
  Dígame sus preocupaciones, mi hermanita.
  
  Hermana, mis hijos están enojados,
  Un tercio de ellos están en mis caminos,
  Mis hijos fuertes luchan para mí,
  Un hogar donde su líder no les quiere.
  . . .

• Ghosts

  Sarah Li '30
  But do we have the rights,
  
  To not believe in ghosts,
  
  To not believe,
  
  That those who passed are somehow here?...
  . . .

• In Memoriam

  James O-Dowd '26
  Empty? But yet I feel full, full of thoughts,
  
  swirling around like a bathtub when the plug is
  
  pulled....
  . . .

• Lament After Sunday Funeral

  Aidan Chan '26
  You don’t move on after loss
  you move with it
  
  Shake hands with grief,
  welcome her in, she’s here to stay
  Pull her a chair at the table—
  offer her comfort for free
  She is not the monster you first thought her to be
  . . .

• Louis XIV: Composed upon the Palace of Versailles, Christmas Eve, 1685

  Ashley Deng '27
  I am the absolute monarch of France,
  I built a palace, rich and grand, to dance.
  Beneath the weight of France, I stand alone,
  A king, like god, yet still I feel unknown.
  . . .