Enduring love for lost dad sparks emotional poetry

Maitland Mercury - Maitland,New South Wales,Australia A little girl's enduring love for her father was the inspiration for the winning entry in this year's East Maitland Beresfield Lioness Club's poetry competition ...

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Enduring love for lost dad sparks emotional poetry
Tuesday, 8 November 2005

A little girl's enduring love for her father was the inspiration for the winning entry in this year's East Maitland Beresfield Lioness Club's poetry competition.

Elle Wallace wrote a poem about her father to tie in with the theme for the 2005 competition, My Hero.

The 11-year-old Our Lady of Lourdes, Tarro student lost her father, Patrick in a boating accident six years ago but his memory remains strong.

What she remembered most about him was that "he was always fishing and he encouraged me to swim".

Because of that, Elle is a member of the Beresfield Swimming Club.

But she also has a talent for poetry, winning an award in the Lioness club's poetry competition last year as a Year 5 student and taking out the overall award this year.

"I find it easier than story writing," Elle, of Thornton, said of writing poems.

"I only write poems for school but I have tried song writing and putting some of my poems to music."

Elle, the eldest of three sisters, said it was natural to write about her father when she learned the topic for the poetry competition.

The poem talks of how much she loves him "from the bottom of my heart" because he is "unique and special to me".

"He is my hero," Elle said. "I will always miss him."