Henry

When I was a little girl

I didn't have a friend in the world

The neighbor kids were mean

The one they always picked on was me

Except for when choosing sides

They always picked me last, making me cry

Whenever we played Red rover

No one would ask me to come over

When the dodgeball flew

I didn't have to guess, because I knew

Aimed at my face

Hard enough to knock me into space

One day I'd had quite enough

They played far too rough

Setting out into the noonday sun

With a book and a lunch for one

I'd hike the shaded woods behind our house

And find a cool spot to read, quiet as a mouse

It was there I met Henry, my new friend

No one believed me when I told them

But, Henry was a toothy reptilian

The size of a tree, and then some

I could hear him stomping through the woods

Long before he crashed into the glade where I read my books

We rarely spoke, but I shared my lunch

Henry, being Continental, called it brunch

Why weren't you afraid of him, you might ask

Because I was too small for him to catch

With his short, little arms, I was out of reach

For him to snack on me with those big, sharp teeth