This is the story of Velia Velius, the hero.
She defeated enemies as monstrous as Nero.
At first, she was the shiest of girls.
She hid behind her pigtails and curls.
The town of Apollo where she had her home
Made her feel more like a tiny gnome.
Her parents said she wouldn’t amount to much.
She said, “I can already jump Double Dutch!
Why do you say such nasty things?
Don’t you want me to grow my own wings?”
Her friends at school were nothing but bullies.
They said: “You’re weak and have the woolies!”
Her thick glasses covered her face,
No earrings or lipstick or fancy lace.
“I know inside me is a superhero!
But my confidence is an absolute zero.”
At age ten, she studied more than she should.
She tried to learn things for the common good,
To bolster her faith in the future-to-be.
She would overcome what she could not see.
Really, she needed a long red cape,
To soar and let the real her escape.
After she finished sewing a costume,
She sprayed it with a flowery perfume.
Her true self would have to come out!
No one would hide her, without a doubt.
She would be brave, strong, and sure.
Shyness would finally have a cure.
Now she would need a gimmick,
Something no one was able to mimic.
She put her smarts into a magic cube
That started in a small test tube.
The cube itself was like a puzzle,
Something that a dog would nuzzle,
But when Velia threw it against the wall,
It almost became a cannon ball.
Its many colors were like the rainbow.
Its puzzle more fun than a game show.
The cube transformed whenever she pleaded.
The nifty square was whatever she needed.
“I need superhero vision with ease.
Vision at night, like an X-ray, please!”
So, the cube changed into magic glasses.
Then Velia was able to help the masses.
She could see what others could not.
She dealt with evil right on the spot.
The glasses shot beams of ice or heat
And didn’t back down ‘til the task was complete.
She could move people and nasty creatures
By aiming the cube at their crooked features.
It became her wings when she had to fly.
She flew across the Eastern night sky,
Jumping from buildings with the breeze
And rescuing cats that were stuck in trees.
The cube could alert her higher senses.
The techno-square raised her defenses.
When she held it in her right hand,
It made her stronger than all the land.
It warned her when danger was near
And gave her speed instead of fear.
It looked up figures and complex facts
And didn’t let info slip through the cracks.
It made her invisible when she had to disappear
And increased the hearing in her inner ear.
At times, it would duplicate her being—
Two places at once can be more than freeing.
At school, she would twist the nifty square,
Pretending it was a game with flair.
Its aura made people tell the truth.
Her teacher said: “Velia, you’re a sleuth!”
No one knew it was her secret friend,
That helped her transform and transcend.
She told her friends the colors had to align.
The game ended when the cube would shine.
Then she’d mix up the colors once more.
To Velia, the puzzle was never a bore.
One day, a villain entered her school.
The blue giant stomped just like a fool.
He broke the windows and smashed the ceiling.
He sent the students and teachers reeling.
“My name is Mammoth, and I hate kids!
Your short-lived lives are up for bids!”
Velia knew just what she needed to do.
She became the superhero that flew.
“Go back to where you came from, Giant!
Your attitude is bad, rude, and defiant!”
Mammoth grabbed Velia, but she was quick.
She slipped away, and her skin was thick.
She could have been squashed like a bug.
Instead, she shook off the shady thug.
The students who bullied Velia were stunned.
Why had she been ridiculed and shunned?
Everyone had thought she was the least.
Then Velia landed in front of the beast.
She spoke to the cube: “Knock him dead.
Smack him right in the middle of his head.”
The multi-colored cube flew like a stone.
Mammoth groaned and dropped like a drone.
“What a superhero!” the whole school cheered.
Her strength and courage were to be feared.
Her parents heard of what happened at school,
And they looked a little bit like the fool.
“Our daughter did what? Did she punch his gut?”
Other than that, their mouths stayed shut.
Now Velia was the hero with power and strength.
She kept no-good creatures at arm’s length.
Her cube stayed with her at all times,
And she stopped all sort of law-breaking crimes.
Her picture was on the cover of magazines,
And she was only in her younger teens.
When she was older, her story was well known
For the bravery, valor, and fight she had shown.
She brought justice to all near and far,
As a brilliant, bright, and shining star.
Copyright 2015 Jennifer Waters
