Ugly Duckling? Whatever...

Who were you to say I was ugly
And that the way I looked was wrong?
You decided that I didn't fit
And told me I didn't belong!

From then on it was war on me
As you tried to drive me away
Your spiteful comments and your scorn
Worsened everyday

Your kicks and hits and hatred thick
Broke me down until I fled
Being so young and new to the world
I should have wound up dead

Looking at my reflection
In the waters of the lake
I wondered whether I'd look as bad
Grown up, as a drake

Would I ever take a wife?
Could I find one amongst the reeds?
For a duckling can finally be considered
A drake if he succeeds

Somehow I made it, I survived
A year left on my own
Pushed around from pillar to post
Still fearful and alone

I encountered magical looking birds
One quiet morning in June
I was so sick of life I asked
If it would be over soon!

They looked at me like I was strange
Asked why I wished to die
They told me to gaze on my reflection
And so astonished was I!

I looked like one of them
These beautiful things!
With a long graceful neck
And powerful wings

My feathers had turned from dirty grey
To as pure as freshly laid snow
To think that I had been a swan
For a year and didn't know!

So I returned to the lake
Where I had first hatched out
To show my siblings what had come
Of that ugly and odd little lout

So now you see just how foolish
You proved yourselves to be
You can never judge a duck by its egg
It could be as handsome as me!

I.Sparrow