Tony
 
“You move like a centipede,”
Roger yelled at Tony.
“What’s the matter? Can’t you run?
You are such a phony!”
 
Roger was a bully, who
Loved to pick on others.
Others who were smaller and
Didn’t have big brothers.
 
Later, Roger heard at school
Tony Jones was dying
Roger turned a deathly white
And he felt like crying.
 
He went home and asked his mom
What was wrong with Tony.
Roger wished he hadn’t said
Tony was a phony.
 
Tony has leukemia
Roger’s mother told him
When she saw his stricken face
She reached out to hold him.
 
Mom, I said an awful thing
And I really worry
That there isn’t time for me
To tell him that I’m sorry.
 
I wish there was a miracle
A way he could live longer
Maybe if we took some soup
It would make him stronger.
 
Mom and I went over there
He was thin and bony.
But he smiled when I walked in.
I’d missed a friend in Tony.