Basketball on the shelf

• Mark Greci, Grade 7
• Poetry
• 2004

I put the ball on the shelf,
I left it there to stay,
Laziness, yes, laziness, had won the day,
But the basketball wouldn't let laziness win,
It stayed steadfast, it wouldn't go away.
Though it collected dust a withered away,
The basketball wouldn't let laziness win,
More dust it collected, yes, it deflated,
But it held to the ancient shelf,
It wouldn't go away,
In my wanning years, I returned to the shelf,
It was bare, except for the wouldn't rubber,
I looked at it and remembered,
The basketball I had neglected,
Long ago and far away,
How could laziness have had its way?