I Gotta Crow

I just have to post this, for the two people in the universe who don't already know this.

Last year, the Pony graduated from the lower school. Among the recognitions that are given at the graduation assembly is a writing award called "Now and Then." The entire fifth grade is given 40 minutes to write a poem. Those poems are reviewed by their homeroom teachers, and five are selected from each class.

The final ten are posted in a prominent location in the school, and the entire faculty votes on the best of them.

Last year, the Pony won. The winner's poem is read aloud at the graduation ceremony, and the winner receives one of the first copies of the year's literary compilation (every student selects one of their writings from the year and they are all printed.)

When the head of school announced the winner of the Now and Then, she just read the poem. And I had no idea that the Pony was even a finalist--she keeps secrets well. As the Head read the poem, I was getting all angry, because the subject was a snake, and I figured it was a boy who wrote it. As the poem progressed, I was thinking "Man, Pony writes that well! She's as good as that!" Then, the farther the poem went, the more I began to relax--it really was a good piece of writing. "Okay, then, whoever wrote that deserves the award."

Imagine my surprise and delight when the Pony's name was announced.

Later, we heard from her homeroom teachers that it was so notably better than any of the other pieces that they felt they only had one poem to submit. Apparently the faculty agreed.

And so, The Mistress Of All Evil presents:

Snake

Way down in a canyon deep,
A snake slowly creeps.
Without a hand, without a food,
For a baby mouse he looks.
Looking down, on the ground,
No prey today is found.
With teeth of pearl and eyes of gold,
Watch the snake's story unfold.
Rabbit napping, quietly sleeping,
In plain sight of the snake that's creeping.
Rabbit awakes, hops away,
The last the the prey Snake will see today.
The sun in high, Snake is looking,
"Dinner for one," snake is bboking.
THe sun is gone, has gone away.
Snake has found no food today.
Way down in the canyon deep,
Watch the snake that slowly creeps.