Once there was a boy
Who grew up in Florida.
All his life he was told
He was very special.
He could read when he
Was three years old.
He read all the year’s reading assignments
In second grade in two days.
By the end of second grade
He tested as reading 12th grade level.
He loved words, and he loved to draw.
His family were all musicians, and
He sang with them in public starting
At age four.
But the other kids thought
He was kind of strange.
His mom and dad weren’t the kind of people
Who ever touched their kids.
The first report card he brought home in first grade
He got all “1’s” (the highest grade) in classes,
But a “2” in conduct.
He was a “behavior problem” at school.
His parents said, as smart as he was, he should get good grades;
That conduct was more important.
So, he decided his grades didn’t matter.
He continued to get in trouble at school.
By third grade he was taken out of class partial days
By a vice principal who taught him things that
Other kids hadn’t got to learn yet.
But his conduct grades stayed bad.
As a matter of fact, he was in trouble every year
He was in school, Kindergarten through 12th grade.
His grades were very mediocre;
He had friends, but always was in trouble.
He started playing the piano in between
Fifth and Sixth grade; for six years he practiced
Long hours every day.
He played professionally starting age fourteen.
It was never enough.
He was told he had wasted his potential.
Even though he qualified for a merit scholarship because of test scores
He was told he had wasted his potential and should have done better
In school.
He should have got good grades, but they didn’t matter if he did, because
grades were easy for him, why didn’t he behave better, why was he such a waste
of potential
waste of potential
waste of
waste
waste
waste