* Dedicated to all my old school mates from '88-'96 who suffered a similar hell as I did and to all those who where brainwashed and now don't know any better.

When I heard the news this afternoon
all I could say was:
"It's about time!"
This school has been going down
for over ten years now.
Well, now I can rest with ease
knowing the brainwashing has ceased.

Farewell, you brown-nosed building
that I helped paint over with my own hands.
Farewell, you wretched hypocrite
with your absurd rules and standards.
Farewell, you work craved lune
that asks more than any student should.

Going to you was like going to hell--
a living hell in heaven's clothing.
I wrote so then in my many notes
and I write so now in this poem.
By the way, I don't wear slacks and a collared shirt tucked anymore
I wear jeans and t-shirts untucked--
something you would never allow.
I rock to music that you would never approve
and I go to the movies without fear
that I will get in trouble for breaking the rules.
For what it's worth
I drink too.
Not never, as you assert is right
but in moderation as the good book says.

So, farewell, you silent halls
and scripture laden walls.
Farewell, you twisted rules
that entrapped the school.
Farewell, you creative leech
that sucked independence beyond reach.

I hope you rot in silence
as in a prison or in hell--
to taste the hell you put me through.
Sure, you gave me an education
but you took my independent soul
trying to mold me into Christian form
with your supposed Bible-based ways.
This isn't the 19th or early 20th centuries any more--
it's the 21st and your ways are old.
There are other translations
other than King James
and he was no saint
so why is his version
the only inspired one?
Take your ways and fade
into painful, silent memories of yesterday.

Farewell to you, the old Academy.