“Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines

he wrote a poem

And he called it "Chops"

because that was the name of his dog



And that's what it was all about

And his teacher gave him an A

and a gold star

And his mother hung it on the kitchen door

and read it to his aunts

That was the year Father Tracy

took all the kids to the zoo



And he let them sing on the bus

And his little sister was born

with tiny toenails and no hair

And his mother and father kissed a lot

And the girl around the corner sent him a

Valentine signed with a row of X's



and he had to ask his father what the Xs meant

And his father always tucked him in bed at night