Jack Be Nimble
Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick,
Jack jumps over the candle-stick.
Jack jumped high,
Jack jumped low,
Jack jumped over and burned his toe!
This old English rhyme dates back to the early 1800s and was often associated with agility and good luck. In fact, jumping over a lit candlestick was once a folk tradition believed to bring good fortune—if you cleared it without extinguishing the flame.
It was used as a simple game or physical exercise for children. It also likely played a part in Victorian-era parlor games and schoolyard activities, where it became associated with speed, lightness, and a kind of youthful charm.
Our rewrite subverts that symbolism: Jack doesn’t leap; he falls. And no one catches him.
Jack Be Simple
Jack be simple,
Jack be sick.
Jack doesn’t make the photo pick.
No family calls,
No hopeful home—
Just foster beds and nights alone.
Jack gets high
When Jack feels low.
One day he whispers,
“It’s time to go.”
Every child deserves a family. But Jack came into the world carrying burdens not of his own making—chronic illness, cognitive impairment, and the kind of quiet suffering that keeps a kid off the “adoptable” list.
No one chose Jack. No one fought for him. And over time, rejection settled into his bones.
To numb the ache of being unwanted, Jack turned to drugs. He wasn’t bad—he was broken, trying to silence the question echoing in his soul: Why not me? Then one day, lost in a fog of loneliness and pain, Jack decided that death seemed less cruel than being forgotten.
Jack didn’t need perfect parents. He needed their presence. But no one came.
