Energy helps us a lot, But some energy cannot be bought

You wrote half a poem in class and that was OK with your teacher?

O, it was a "bonus assignment", my 10-year-old granddaughter said. You didn't have to do it if you wished. Wow, some freedom!

The title of the 8-line poem set by her teacher was Energy. Clearly, she was stuck somewhere. I wanted to clear the roadblock for her.

But she said she had already forgotten what she wrote some months ago. Try to remember the four rhyming words you used. There would be a BIG reward, a shiny 20-dollar Canadian silver coin of your choosing from my collection, if within the day (before your mom came) --

(a) you finished writing you ENERGY poem; and
(b) you would do four more 8-line poems, two of which should be titled MY GRANDMA AND I  and MY GRANDPA AND I.

There is always the free, supporting services of a walking rhyming dictionary that gives out useful tips to the young, budding poet.

Then, she revealed the first half of her unfinished work --
    Energy helps us a lot,
    But some energy cannot be bought.
    Wherever you go,
    Energy will always follow.

My granddaughter asked me what rhymed with energy. It's easy, I said. She asked again. I repeated my answer with a big grin. She then realized I was using a pun! (It's great fun!) To show her it was not hard to write short poems, I gave her my impromptu version of the final stanza of her little poem:

      Do you know why?
      Until we die
      We are balls of energy,
      Always moving like waves on the sea.

I took the opportunity of showing her the other side of the ENERGY coin. There are good and bad energies, the latter include volcanic eruption, nuclear explosion, etc. We were both pleased when she quickly completed her Poem 1, as follows:

 ENERGY (Poem 1 of 5)
-- by H (written on Oct. 6, 2015)

Energy helps us a lot,
But some energy cannot be bought.
Wherever you go,
Energy will always follow.

Energy is everywhere,
Some is even in your hair!
But energy does not always help us,
Like bombs that bring us back to dust!

We had lunch and enjoyed watching some very interesting and educational episodes on the Animal Planet TV channel. Naturally, H was inspired to write her third poem, rather quickly:

UNDERWATER ANIMALS (Poem 2 of 5)
-- by H 
Octopuses can be different colours,
Dolphins sometimes dance near harbours.
Crabs are like a knight with armour,
They fight predators with great drama.
Stingrays are flat like a plate,
When they eat they are never late.
Starfish have legs, many.
They regrow lost legs, they are happy!

(to be continued ...)