Black Beetles in Amber - читать онлайн бесплатно полную версию книги . Страница 28

A POET'S FATHER

Welcker, I'm told, can boast a father greatAnd honored in the service of the State.Public Instruction all his mind employs—He guides its methods and its wage enjoys.Prime Pedagogue, imperious and grand,He waves his ferule o'er a studious landWhere humming youth, intent upon the page,Thirsting for knowledge with a noble rage,Drink dry the whole Pierian spring and askTo slake their fervor at his private flask.Arrested by the terror of his frown,The vaulting spit-ball drops untimely down;The fly impaled on the tormenting pinStills in his awful glance its dizzy din;Beneath that stern regard the chewing-gumWhich writhed and squeaked between the teeth is dumb;Obedient to his will the dunce-cap fliesTo perch upon the brows of the unwise;The supple switch forsakes the parent woodTo settle where 'twill do the greatest good,Puissant still, as when of old it stroveWith Solomon for spitting on the stoveLearned Professor, variously great,Guide, guardian, instructor of the State—Quick to discern and zealous to correctThe faults which mar the public intellectFrom where of Siskiyou the northern boundIs frozen eternal to the sunless groundTo where in San Diego's torrid climeThe swarthy Greaser swelters in his grime—Beneath your stupid nose can you not seeThe dunce whom once you dandled on your knee?O mighty master of a thousand schools,Stop teaching wisdom, or stop breeding fools.