Why did the chicken cross the road?

You're a chicken, they said.
Why don't you just stop
being a chicken
and face things like
a real man?

It was a Wednesday when he
stepped out onto the road,
just as he saw a 4 by 4
cruising towards him;
that poor chicken took a single breath
and stepped in front right there and then.
I guess in the end
facing a 4 by 4 was easier
than facing his anxieties and fears;
going into school the next day
and facing the sneers
or hiding at home
and tracing the tears down his face.

He was always out of place on this side
but that never made him a chicken.
Some jokes are funny the first time round
but some jokes we hear time and time again
and they grate.
And it's not chickens but bullies they create.

They don't laugh when they ask why he crossed the road,
because they know. And when he died
I hope that they stopped joking
and I hope he reached the other side.