Student Publishing Program ::

Gabriella Velonias

Big Bird

My thin, blond, curly hair matched my yellow, fuzzy friend,
Each feather stuck out in a spontaneous spike from all the years
of loving use and abuse he endured.

He was my Big Bird toy, my first tangible friend,
once inspiring me to learn and love.

My little grin would open as if to roar before I dove for
his nose, to make my mark,
to twist and tug with my toothless grip.
His beak once opened to recite a story from his show,
but my toothless grasp to clasp his mouth shut, as if an innocent game,
broke his voice and has put his days of speech into my distant past.

And all the scars that I gave to him, in a playful child’s way,
the patchy feathers and a permanently penetrated beak,
tell of an enduring friendship that gives and gives selflessly
marking the path of unconditional love.

[TABLE OF CONTENTS, LHS CLASS OF 2011 EDITION]