Rocco
I got five As in my school report card so
My mom bought me a hamster.
I called him Rocco
Because that is what my mom
Called me before I was born.
Rocco was attention-loving like
My great grand-mother grammy
Who sadly I never knew.
He did acrobatics on the bars of his cage
And ran so fast on his yellow wheel.
But he ate too much and became obese.
He stopped running
Got lazy.
One day he didn’t move anymore.
Sadly, he died.
My mother and I and my brother
Buried him in our back yard
Where sometimes when I am playing
I will stop and think
What a great hamster he was.

By Leandro McPhee, age 9 — my nephew
A real story