Not so long ago,
In a place not so far away
Lived an ugly kangaroo named Melbourne
Who wished he’d be handsome one day

His tale was too long,
And his ears were too short
He had an odd growth on his toe
That everyone called a wart

The other kangaroos made fun of him
And mocked him 24/7
When he was young, dreamed of a place he’d be accepted
To him, that would truly be heaven

So he lived a quiet life
By himself, but vaguely content
For he thought hours alone,
Were hours better spent

You see, he shut out his feelings
Of hurt and of pain
He did not befriend anyone
And from crying, he would refrain

One kangaroo tried everyday
To be Melbourne’s friend
Her name was Sydney
And she gave all the strength she could lend

But he shut her out
And accused her good intentions
She hopped away crying
And halted her daily interventions

When he had lived 17 years
And 92 days more
He got a tad lonely
He wasn’t so sure of himself anymore

As an old, lonely, ugly kangaroo
With white fur and glasses
He decided to make a speech
One he would give to the kangaroo masses!

“A long time ago,
I valued my pride
Even though I was ugly
And that, I couldn’t hide

I shut people out
Of my heart and my days
But now I realize
The dramatic error of my ways

You see, there are some things
That kangaroos just cant live without
Love and friendship are two I rejected
And I regret my decision, no doubt.

I didn’t want to risk my feelings
I didn’t want to risk my heart
And I threw away some thing that could have been great
If it had been given the chance to start.”

He hopped down from the hill
And ended his speech with a tear
He hopped off into the sunset
As his shadow faded and began to disappear

I would love to give you a happy ending
I would love to say that Sydney heard all this
It would be nice if she listened
And thought maybe it was she he missed

But Sydney had died two weeks prior
To Melbourne’s speech and didn’t hear a word
Oh I wish I was lying!
But I’m reporting exactly what had occurred

However, Melbourne’s speech
Did change a few kangaroos
Even though most of them
Made fun of him even more when they heard the news

But it taught the ugly ones
To live life just the same
And not to think all Roo’s are jerks
But to believe that some are as sweet as they claim.