At the Princess Julianaschool Poem by Sylvia Frances Chan

It happened in Jakarta (Indonesia)
at the Princess Juliana school, a Dutch-language school,
Marina was 8 years old and Sylvia only 7 years old.

Autobiographical

the youngest goes to school before compulsory school age

she was tested to mention the 20 subjects
that have been spread out before her

she may only make 3 mistakes,
otherwise she wouldn't be admitted,
because she is still much too young

she made exactly 3 mistakes and was admitted,
so she became the youngest in the class!

she talked too much
she didn't pay attention

one day she was called and had to face her teacher,
another girl from the class said irritating things about Sylvia

her name was Marina,
she is Dutch, and very pale, she had alien glasses,
with freckles on her face and a bow on her hair,
she is a bit taller than Sylvia

the teacher showed Marina's arms and asked:
Sylvia, what have you done with Marina?

The teacher showed two pale arms
on which were all tiny red blood spots,
Marina pointed to Sylvia and said bravely:
Yes, Miss, she did this, half crying

Miss Hendriks called Sylvia to come and asked if she did?
To which Sylvia nodded her head.
How did that come about?

In class, Sylvia sat behind Marina.
The whole time during class, Marina kept turning
and saying nasty things to Sylvia and turning her back on her.

One day it got too much for Sylvia
during recess she waited for Marina
at the toilets and took a tight hold of her arm,
Marina was shocked had separated herself from Sylvia
and ran to the teacher as fast as she could.

Sylvia's mother hadn't cut Sylvia's nails that day,
you could imagine the red blood on Marina's pale arms.