The Little Boy's Lesson

[Peely]

This was originally written as a Homework poem for the Illawarrra Breakfast Poets for the weekly topic, "Dishonesty". It was on the old ABPA forum and is reposted here.

THE LITTLE BOY’S LESSON
© John Peel 10/11/08

He looked up at his mother and he said, “It wasn’t me,”
But the evidence suggested otherwise,
The ring of chocolate round his mouth was very clear to see,
And the fact that he was caught out by surprise.
“You’ve been stealing chocolate bickies from the bickie tin again,
I can see the guilty look within your eyes.
Before you start, I think that I should make it very plain,
I know the truth, it’s no use telling lies.”
He answered, “I was hungry,” as he finally explained
The reason why he’d taken what he had.
He learnt a vital lesson when his mother then maintained
That telling lies and stealing are both bad.
That very lesson still holds true, now that the boy’s a man
And every day he tries to be as honest as he can.