This is the story of my own high school experience (name fictional).

Wormwood High
by Patricia Backora
03/29/06
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Wormwood High
Included in my current project:
Bullying: A Spiritual Battle

(Name based on Amos 5:7 and Rev. 8:10-11)


At four I learned to love
At fourteen I was taught to hate
All trust was burned away from me
Like wax melts in a flame.

Why is it that when the hormones rage
And boxy bodies begin to change
That tiny tongues sharpen to rattlesnake fangs
And victims are dealt such deadly pain?

At four a girl asked, with a wondering smile,
Did your mom make this cake for you?
At fourteen a girl asked, with a catty smile,
Did your mom fix your hair for you?

At five a girl said, Come on, let's play
At fifteen a girl said, oooh! Stay away from me!
At five some boy said: Play tag with me!
At fifteen he said: Drop dead, you're ugly!

At six I got in a pillow fight
At sixteen I was threatened with a knife
By a mad dog bully on the bus
Who satan taught to swear and cuss.

At six I got lots of valentines
A bite of candy and playtime rhymes
At sixteen I got tacks on my chair
And racist remarks about my hair

At six we'd all join up to play
But sixteen was a different day
The School of Hard Knocks
Broke my heart on the rocks
As hurt hardened into hate

Wormwood High, you wished I’d die
And never rise again
But Christ has breathed new life in me
And remembered all your sins.

Bitter wormwood, gall to drink
Driving kids up to the brink
Of walking wounded suicide
Turning off their lights inside
Darkening dawn to endless night

Lean, leggy dolls with shimmery hair
Waltzed on by without a care
While I was trashed from the very first day
As a human being wanna-be

The bullies gathered for their feast
And made a sacrifice out of me
Offered to satan their overlord
Who taught them all his tricks of scorn

Wormwood High, satan's university
A school where the devil confers degrees
In meanness, snobbery and cruelty
They'd murdered the loving child in me.

When Jesus sent His Spirit in
He revived the happy child within
He kindled the hope of a happier day
When all God's kids learn His loving ways.