The unpasteurized morning dew, frozen
white upon the trodden grass, flickers
sparkles through a nearby window.
Perhaps they are the ancient ghosts
of heroes of the Revolution, offended
by the pretense of contemporary politics.
Perhaps they've heard the teacher say:
Nix the future
Damn the past
This brittle peace
Can never last
A-woo ha hay!
A-woo ha hay!
You treat them well
To win the day
Inept perception of history, droning
on and on about the way the captain,
Francis Drake, won out, invincible
armada. That very frost has slain the great
behemoth the Titanic, and it will never
draw at all-not blade nor pen nor musket.
Summations now, such simple things, unplagued
by great significance (and so endure immortally),
are writ upon the blackboard:
Nix last comment
Start again
Two times two plus six
Makes ten
A-woo ha hay!
A-woo ha hay!
You must learn sums
To win the day
The ghosts outside spin 'round and cringe
as though were living they might say
the icy sheet that summons them
will never lose the day.
12 January 2008
1. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
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