My school bag weighs
more than my body
Weighs more than a sycamore tree
Weighs more than a forest of sycamore trees
complete with flowers and leaves

My shoulders have aches
pains and blisters
My back is hunched to the floor
For I carry a train
with whistles and grain
A freight train of iron and ore.

My school bag is filled
with a sand dune
A sand dune as wide
as a beach
If the beach had a chair
with a bear
sitting there
holding a pear and a peach.

My ribs can no longer
support me
My knees are throbbing
with ache
My ribs and my knees
and ankles beg please
I don’t know how much more I can take

I’ve sat and I’ve thought
and I’ve pondered
I’ve wondered and worried my core
I’ve decided my health’s more important
So I won’t go to school
anymore.