Yet Another Ugly Duckling

• Jessica Doyle, Grade 9
• Poetry
• 2008

The ugly duckling of the playground,
Standing apart awkwardly,
Without family,
Without love,
No childish freedom,
Just burdens that are not her own.

Dancing, leaping,
Crawling, running
A night of restless thoughts,
Out of her control.
Eyes blackened with the faults and grief of others.
Her face like sunlight in agony.

Hours passing by in a blur of murky brightness.
Walls bare.
No one lives here.
No life recorded,
No childhood.
Just days and days of endless caring.

The children in the playground do not see her passing by.
Fun does not greet her on little dancing feet.
It hides from her with its playful friends,
Not daring face the adult world,
Not daring to give this young grown-up girl a chance at laughter.

A newly hatched sea turtle,
Fighting hurdles of sand,
Trying to survive alone.
The blue-green waves a wait her,
A sheet of glassy treasure.
But is she meant to do this?
Is independence really meant to be?

No! I shout.
I shout it to the world.


To fun, to laughter, to it’s playful friends.
Leave her be Fearful Caring!
Give her youthful cool and youthful adventure.
Just Listen!
But they don’t.

And so the ugly duckling of the playground,
Standing apart awkwardly,
Without family,
Without love,
No childish freedom,
Takes the burdens that are not her own.