When Lee Davison came out of his Junior Cycle English exam in Galway this week, he had one story to bring home. A poem by his mother, Emily Cullen, had appeared on the paper — and it was a poem written about him. For one family, the Junior Cycle English exam turned into a moment they are not likely to forget.
A very personal moment in the exam hall
Lee, a student at Coláiste Éinde in Salthill, was sitting the higher-level Junior Cycle English exam when he spotted Envoi in Chalk in Section D. The poem, written by poet and University of Limerick poet-in-residence Emily Cullen, was inspired by Lee when he was eight years old.
Back then, Cullen had called him in for dinner at their home in Rahoon and noticed a message chalked on the pavement: “The world is great.” It landed at exactly the right moment. Her mother was in hospital, life felt uncertain, and that small line from her son became the spark for a poem that, she said, came almost all at once.
After this week’s Junior Cycle English exam, Lee told his mother it had gone well — then shared the twist. According to Cullen, he was not sure whether to mention in his answer that the poem was about him, thinking the examiner might not believe it, so he wrote in the third person instead.
It is the kind of local story people hold onto because the details are so simple and specific:
- a chalk message on a pavement
- a boy on a yellow scooter
- a mother turning a family moment into a poem
- that same poem reappearing years later in a state exam
School staff described it as a lovely coincidence, and it is easy to see why. The poem’s bright message met Lee again in the most unexpected place: his Junior Cycle English exam paper.
Sometimes a line written in childhood travels further than anyone expects. In this case, the Junior Cycle English exam brought it full circle — back to the boy who first wrote, in chalk, that the world is great.
Image Courtesy: The Irish Times
