Jsa
School on a hill
Citadel above the slum and squalor
Prepare me still
To meet the worst with my best endeavor
Teach me again
The way the soil may bind the rain
And sugarcane
To yield abundantly, a sweeter gain.
I recall now
With pride, your science and splendour
The heavy plough
Making waves for corn, like ships in the harbor
And the friendships there
And the raucous hearts of young men dreaming
Of lissome maidens fair
And ever and ever the babel of learning.
There beside you
Sufferer's heights, and there below all
Central Village, and my Jew
And how I was a shadow midst your hall
Till days long task were done
Till jasmine winds tame evening sun
Till she smiled at the door
And happiness promised forevermore
O school, my school
I wished you had taught me then
The strange ways desire bend
The heart of men, and love's fickle path
You could have spared time's wrath
For wasted dreams when talent breaks
The ladder of success, and sorrow rakes
The forgotten years
With love's forlorn tears.
Copyright © David Smalling | Year Posted 2010
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