A freshman in high school, so full of bright dreams,
When getting a boyfriend filled all of my schemes,
Impressing the in-crowd meant more than it seems,
"hip" high school,
play it cool,
such a fool!
This town was so tiny, where everyone new
The names of your parents and your dog's name, too,
They knew what you wore, where you'd go, what you'd do,
Don't blow it,
don't show it,
they'll know it.
A young English teacher, so new to this town,
Whose blue bedroom-eyes where well-known and renown,
The Male population kept putting him down,
That was then,
way back when,
macho men.
The girls called him Dreamboat and plotted for days
To draw his attention with feminine ways,
in each teenage heart, where she secretly prays
She'll out-shine
the whole line,
he's so fine.
Then one fateful morning our English class saw
A chink in his armor ~ a mean, ruthless flaw,
When pushed to his limits, that last final straw,
A foul mood,
came unglued,
downright crude.
He picked on a student, poor old Gerald Dee,
He taunted and teased him, and scorned him with glee,
And inside my brain formed a weak, helpless plea:
Don't be rough,
stop this stuff,
that's enough!
He pinched Gerald's belly, he labeled him fat,
He jabbed him and poked, while in silence we sat,
We couldn't believe he was calling him that,
He named him,
and blamed him,
and shamed him.
It's been many years, but I clearly recall
My cheeks turning red and tears threat'ning to fall,
While, glued to my seat, I just stared at the wall,
Plea unheard,
not one word,
how absurd.
That small English class, 38 of us then,
Grew up to be well-thought-of women and men,
But nightmares still put me in that classroom when
Gerald Dee's
agony
*tortures* me.
"...Am I my bother's keeper?"
(Genesis 4:9b, KJV)
Forgive me, Gerald Dee... forgive all 38 of us.
