AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune--I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.
The earth--that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
......
Down the street as I was drifting with the city's human tide,
Came a ghost, and for a moment walked in silence by my side --
Now my heart was hard and bitter, and a bitter spirit he,
So I felt no great aversion to his ghostly company.
Said the Shade: 'At finer feelings let your lip in scorn be curled,
'Self and Pelf', my friend, has ever been the motto for the world.'
And he said: 'If you'd be happy, you must clip your fancy's wings,
Stretch your conscience at the edges to the size of earthly things;
Never fight another's battle, for a friend can never know
......
Instruction from scripture.
ver. 9
How shall the young secure their hearts,
And guard their lives from sin?
Thy word the choicest rules imparts
To keep the conscience clean.
ver. 130
......
I saw a schoolmaster in the Maghrib country, who was sour-faced, of uncouth speech, ill-humoured, troublesome to the people, of a beggarly nature and without self-restraint, so that the very sight of him disgusted the Musalmans and when reading the Quran he distressed the hearts of the people. A number of innocent boys and little maidens suffered from the hand of his tyranny, venturing neither to laugh nor to speak because he would slap the silver-cheeks of some and put the crystal legs of others into the stocks. In short, I heard that when his behaviour had attained some notoriety, he was expelled from the school and another installed as corrector, who happened to be a religious, meek, good and wise man. He spoke only when necessary and found no occasion to deal harshly with anyone so that the children lost the fear they had entertained for their first master and, taking advantage of the angelic manners of the second, they acted like demons towards each other and, trusting in his gentleness, neglected their studies, spending most of their time in play, and breaking on the heads of each other the tablets’ of their unfinished tasks.
If the schoolmaster happens to be lenient
The children will play leapfrog in the bazar.
Two weeks afterwards I happened to pass near that same mosque where I again saw the first master whom the people had made glad by reconciliation and had reinstalled in his post. I was displeased, exclaimed ‘La haul’, and asked why they had again made Iblis the teacher of angels. An old man, experienced in the world, who had heard me, smiled and said: ‘Hast thou not heard the maxim?
A padshah placed his son in a school,
Putting in his lap a silver tablet
With this inscription in golden letters:
......
The Frost performs its secret ministry,
Unhelped by any wind. The owlet's cry
Came loud--and hark, again ! loud as before.
The inmates of my cottage, all at rest,
Have left me to that solitude, which suits
Abstruser musings : save that at my side
My cradled infant slumbers peacefully.
'Tis calm indeed ! so calm, that it disturbs
And vexes meditation with its strange
And extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood,
......
Doctor Fell taught at University Park, like stars gather for enlightenment;
And was stern, diligent and upright, like pink cactus bloom environments.
He was dedicated to his striving students, although strict about lessons;
And there were penalties for those missed, like when grape sun lessens.
Doctor Fell abided by obeying rules, feeling students needed a firm hand.
Infractions yielded extra homework, and often blue detention, unplanned.
Fell had a fair amount of fast friends. He associated with the fine faculty;
......
The lost Wonderland
Made me break down all at once,
But I learnt what’s real.
I was an elementary school teacher, with dreaming eyes to the rosy future,
Like the emerald, cherry blossom season, arriving later rather than sooner.
As a creative teacher, I was so popular, as children were my pearled world,
Like the blooming cloud covered expanse, where spicy wind's lately swirled.
I looked forward to adventurous hours, like time with no backward motion,
In deep thrill of golden, new discoveries, of which none had a vague notion.
Evenings with friends, among roses, found nightingale still sweetly singing,
......
It's golden teacher appreciation day, a shiny red apple;
Like scarlet carnations and roses, compel smiles ample.
To worthy ones, who helped shape hopes and dreams,
Like still silence of moonlight, when birdsong screams.
A card for the teacher, at orange sunset of school days,
Whose lessons follow forever, like a purple, misty haze.
Deep emerald days of youth, as yellow butterflies roam,
Will find you again in memory, after you've gone home.
I was a learned college professor, who was forever eager to know more,
As blue-gray waves, finding sandy beaches, turn to seek another shore.
I drove to work smiling, in those tangerine days, so glad for avid youths,
Like when dusky stars waltz out dreamy, winking to show hidden truths.
My long days were full, like the pink marguerites, crowding sunny fields,
Or the misty rainbow's vanishing, after a full sky vision's been revealed!
I was suited to my worthy profession, because I had an analytical mind,
......