Ballads by Mrs. Roeglin's Fifth Grade Class

When I went to hit the ball
I tried and tried not to fall
When I tried to get a home run
I missed the ball but still had a lot of fun.

Come on ref, let's flip the dime
Let's score some points before half time
Come on coach we want to cream
We want to cream the other team.

I was running to hit the ball
But my shoe untied and made me fall
I was playing tennis against my twin
And I was hoping I would win.

My brother fell and broke his toes
Because he had triped on a hose
They lost the game which made him mad
So then I felt very sad.

Every time I watch football
Everybody seems to fall
If they make this one last goal
The Packers will go to the Super Bowl.

I am never really able
To keep that ball up on the table
The net always blocks my shot
Then I start to get really hot.

I am usually pretty fast
I have never come in last
The fastest person's name is Kim
She tells us that she loves to swim.

As I start to dribble the ball
My shoes untie and I start to fall
When I fall I bump my head
All I want to do is go to bed.

When I start to shoot a duck
I see a great big 30-point buck
Then I go to grap my gun
I hit the deer and it started to run.

I slipped and fell off my skateboard
And landed on a telephone cord
When I fell I skinned my knee
And hit my head and I can barely see.

I'm gonna kick that soccer ball
I hope I don't trip and fall
I stepped into a great big hole
And scored the winning soccer goal.

As I ran I began to tumble
Then it ended up being a fumble
The next play was going to be a pass
But then I tripped and fell in the grass.

I go to the ice rink and hope to learn
The teacher taught me how to turn
Then I did a double flying spin
This time I really hope to win.


These were written by my younger brother and his classmates in Mrs. Roeglin's 5th grade class.

I Won't Be Left Behind

I run my fastest
But still get beat.
I land on my head
When I should be on my feet.
I try to move forward,
But I am stuck in rewind.
Why do I keep at it?
I won't be left behind.

The harder I am thrown,
The higher I bounce.
I give it my all,
And that's all that counts.
In first place,
Myself, I seldom find.
So I push to the limit-
I won't be left behind.

Some people tell me you can't,
Some say don't.
Some simply give up.
I reply, I won't.
The power is here,
locked away in my mind.
My perseverance is my excellence,
I won't be left behind.

Make the best of each moment,
The future is soon the past.
The more I tell myself this,
The less I come in last.
Throughout my competitions,
I've learned what winning is about.
A plain and clear lesson-
Giving up is the easy way out.

So every night before I go to bed,
I hope in a small way I have shined.
Tomorrow is a brand-new day,
And I won't be left behind.


Sara Nachtman

Mundial, en perseguir a mí ...

Mundial, en perseguir a mí, ¿qué ganas? ¿Cómo puede hacer daño si elijo, astutetly, en lugar de almacenar mi mente con cosas de belleza, de los residuos es la demanda de valores en todos los de la belleza? Alto precio y la riqueza traerme ningún placer, la felicidad sólo me preocupo de encontrar el tesoro se deriva de stting en mi mente y no de mi mente que es establecer un tesoro ganar. Yo premio no hermosura. Todas las cosas justo pagar a tiempo, el vencedor, su cuota de nombrados y tesoro trucos incluso el ojo experto. El mío es el mejor y el camino más cierto: dejar las vanidades de la vida a un lado, no tirar mi vida lejos de la vanidad.


Written by: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

World, In Hounding Me...

World, in hounding me, what do you gain? How can it harm you if I choose, astutetly, rather to stock my mind with things of beauty, than waste it's stock on every beauty's claim? Costliness and weatly bring me no pleasure; the only happiness I care to find derives from setting treasure in my mind and not from my mind that's set on winning treasure. I prize no comeliness. All fair things pay to time, the victor, their appointed fee and treasure cheats even the practiced eye. Mine is the better and truer way: to leave the vanities of life aside, now throw my life away on vanity.


Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Translated from Spanish by: Alan S. Trueblood

By screeching owl, by toad and bat
By scuttling beetle, shiny black
We curse thy soal! We'll take thy life!

By blood-red moon and starless sky
By writhing bones and corpse's sigh
We curse thy soal! We'll take thy life!

By slithering snake and long-tailed rat
By mandrake root and familiar cat
We curse thy soal! We'll take thy life!

These words, have been written in blood
of innocents
Thus cursed you are by covens three:
You will die in a dark place, far
Underground with no friend at your side!

Malkin, Deane & Mouldheel

Note: This was taken from The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney; I found it weird. Apparently this was a curse on one of the main characters, that if I remember correctly, never happened. The series is good though.

Three Japanese Tankas

1
Sent anonymously to a man in front of the screens of my room:

Should the world of Love
end in darkness
without our glimpsing
that cloud-gap
where the moon's light fills the sky?

2
Sent to a man who seemed to have changed his mind:

Since my heart placed me
on board your drifing ship
not one day has passed
that I haven't been drenched
in cold waves

3
Sent in a letter attached to rice stalk with an empty seed husk:

How sad I hope
to see you even now,
after my life has emptied itself
like this stalk of grain
into the autumn wind


Written by: Ono Komachi
Translated by:Jane Hirshfield with Mariko Aratani

Soul Sisters

Separation has no hold
Obviously one and the same
Unending love
Love forever

Silly laughter
Insistant
Souls are twins
Together not matter what
Enjoy eachother's company
Regrets? None!
Sisters are Us!



Dedicated to: Aubrey Dawn Clevinger; forever my soul sister!