I Won't Say A Word

There are words I'm not allowed to say.
I really don't know why.
But once when I said one of them,
I made my mother cry.

I'm still not quite sure what it meant.
(It slipped out unexpected).
But my mother told my father,
and for now, I'm not respected.

My father told my neighbor
and my neighbor told his kid.
Now I'm an outcast at my school
and I don't know what I did!

The school told everyone in town,
that bad word that I said.
Now my preacher told my father
that I need help in the head.

I'll never use that word again.
I'll lament and I'll repent.
I only wish I had a clue
what the heck that darn word meant!


(C) 1998, Arden Davidson