Mary Jane

 

Mary Jane was a first-class pain
And a boaster, to her peers' disdain
At any challenge, any test--

Mary Jane claimed to be the best
And just before the school bell's chime
Each day, to signal learning time,
At her classmates' attire she'd look and say,
"I see you were stylishly challenged today."
At lunch, she'd eat her fancy cakes
And in math roll her eyes at others' mistakes
In English, she knew all the rules
And considered those who struggled "fools"
But one day it all became enough
For Mary Jane's teacher, Mrs. Pluff
She required Mary Jane to stay after school
And taught her about the Golden Rule
And then she told Mary, as blunt as could be,
"Mean people don't have friends, you see."
Then Mary Jane burst into tears
She hadn't had a friend in years
It wasn't fun, she had to admit
And vowed, from that day on, to quit
The next day she gave no one grief
They looked at her in disbelief
But after awhile they began to feel
The change in Mary Jane was real
Behaving in a kinder way,
She found more kindness came her way
Her classmates forgot she'd once been a pain
For they now had a friend named Mary Jane 

© 2024 Teresa Miles Kephart