Back to School

A young schoolboy named Billy Joe grew restless on the bus
The boy was filled with questions about what was all the fuss.
He’d picked his clothes and shined his shoes. He thought he looked quite cool.
And his mother cried as he walked out:
“Don’t wear your mask to school, son.
Leave your mask at home, Bill.
Don’t take your mask to school.”
He laughed and kissed his mom and said, “Your Billy Joe’s a man”
I can avoid this Covid best as anybody can.
And I won’t mask without a cause;  I’d look a total fool.
She cried again as he rode off:
“Don’t wear your mask to school, son.
Leave your mask at home, Bill.
Don’t take your mask to school.”
He hummed a song as on he rode, his face mask left at home.
He saw his schoolmates in the yard, wherein they liked to roam.
He saw some wearing masks and wondered if that was the rule.
But his mother’s words echoed again:
“Don’t wear your mask to school, son.
Leave your mask at home, Bill.
Don’t take your mask to school.”
He razzed some of his schoolmates about covering their face.
And said they needn’t worry about virus in this place.
A bemasked schoolboy at his side began to laugh, quite cruel.
Again heard again his mothers words:
“Don’t wear your mask to school, son.
Leave your mask at home, Bill.
Don’t take your mask to school.”
Filled with spite then, Billy Joe breached Covid protocol.
But then he started coughing wildly right there in the hall.
As Billy Joe fell to the floor, the crowd all screamed “You fool!”
And wondered at his final words:
“Don’t wear your mask to school, son.
Leave your mask at home, Bill.
Don’t take your mask to school.”

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I'm a writer living in Massachusetts.