The teacher watches
the girl in the back of the room,
the only one in English class
who does not speak English

The teacher asks
a brown-eyed boy
who is tall and has a soft voice,
who is kind and quiet
to translate the assignment

the only girl in the room
who is pregnant
and who thinks
no one knows

The girl has hair that is brown
but she wants it to be red,
and the hair dye
makes it look like a copper penny

The girl has a soft smile
with one crooked tooth
that makes her innocence shine
and the teacher wants to cry

The girl falls asleep in the back of the room
but when the teacher calls her name
she sits up straight
and smiles a smile that is true
that is without spite

The girl does not know
that she is beautiful
that she would be beautiful
even without the boy
that walks her down the hall,
the boy in the black jacket
and the slicked-back hair,
the boy whose hand she holds
so very tightly
every day

The teacher thanks the kind boy
who translates the material
for the copper-haired girl
who said she understood the assignment
before she starts to fall asleep again