Remember Me? Poem by Ray Mather

Remember Me?
I am the boy who sought friendship;
The boy you turned away.
I the boy who asked you
If I too might play.
I the face at the window
When your party was inside.
I the lonely figure
Who walked away and cried.
I the one who hung around,
A punchbag for your games.
Someone you could kick and beat,
Someone to call names.
But how strange is the change
After time has hurried by,
Four years have passed since then,
Now I’m not so quick to cry.
I’m bigger and I’m stronger,
I’ve grown a foot in height.
Suddenly I’M popular
And YOU’RE left out the light.
I could, if I wanted,
Be so unkind to you.
I would only have to say
And the other boys would do.
But the memory of my pain
Holds back the revenge I’d planned
And instead I feel much stronger
By offering you my hand.


(1989)