My First Day in Boarding School

You there!
Little grade niner!
Only pick one slice of bread!
She had shouted in my ears,

And the other girls had turned to look at me,
She was the dining hall captain,
And a grade twelve,

Tears in my eyes yet none falling,

I returned the second slice I had picked,
And disappeared into the crowd of girls.

Dad had accompanied me to school,
As I watched him leave,
And turned to go with the grade ten girl who had come to pick me,
Tears filled my eyes yet none fell.

That night as I sat in the dormitory,
The air filled with the smell of new things for grade nines had reported,
I felt a special feeling in my heart,
I was finally in boarding school,

I could smell sweet soap,
I could smell new bedcovers and blankets,
In the lower beds we lay down to sleep,
And in the upper beds the senior girls rested their heads,
The day had ended,
And I had eaten a meal of corn and beans,

I slept the night,
And at dawn the bell rang to wake us up,
Twas my first day in boarding school!