Frankie stared across the table—
At the edge there was a book
It had giant golden edges
And a large green-bound look.
He knew the exciting story
That it held between its leaves.
The Hero traveled West—
From Sea to shining Sea.
But!
When the Hero fell
From a mountain's cliffed edge,
The WORDS began to follow him,
And THEY TOO jumped off the ledge!
It wasn't long then before
He couldn't read AT ALL!
The words were JUMBLED, twisted, WRIGGLING—
Growing GREAT and TALL!
They TOWERED over Franklin,
Made a tall and fearsome CAGE!
Then they LAUGHED
Then they WIGGLED
Then those words leapt off the page!
They went this way
They went THAT WAY
They ran ALL AROUND the ROOM.
They ran quickly up the ceilings,
How they RACED!
How they ZOOMED!
They played leap-frog, they had relays!
They had parties where they danced!
Then they rode upon the rocking hose,
Oh! How they made him prance!
And just when Frankie lost all hope
And began to sit and cry,
The HERO climbed BACK UP the ledge,
And said, "Don't quit—JUST TRY!"
"Grab that word and FOCUS on it.
Don't worry 'bout the others!
Just focus on that FIRST WORD,
Then focus on his brothers!"
"You might be slow, at first,
Compared to other friends,
But the more you TRY,
The more you TRAIN,
The closer you'll near the end!"
So Frankie grabbed that FIRST WORD,
And wouldn't let it go!
It Wiggled, Tangled,
It Fought and Spat,
And yelled a vicious "NO!"
But Frankie was DETERMINED
As he focused on that word,
And SLOWLY read the word aloud,
When the OTHERS stopped and heard.
Then they all came SCRAMBLING BACK!
For they wanted to be READ,
They stopped JIGGLING,
They stopped TWIRLING,
They stopped DANCING on their HEADS.
They lined up onto the page,
Awaiting patiently their turn,
Until Frankie read them ALL until
There were NO WORDS to LEARN!
The Hero safely made his way,
From the Mountains to the Sea,
And there he made a tin hut,
Enough for two or three.
And Frankie—
Well, FRANKIE went on to READ MORE BOOKS,
But when he saw that old green-bound,
He would sit up and look—
He would never-ever forget
That Hero's distant cry:
Don't GIVE UP!
Don't GIVE IN!
Just TRY! TRY! TRY!
~Katie Haughton
June 25, 3019
