Unfamiliar work and rule, -- Little Lad's first day in school. "Stay! O papa, stay with me!" Thus he murmurs tearfully. And, though business calls away, Papa stays the livelong day. Hard the lessons, hard and new, All the Little Lad can do; Strange the room, companions strange, Everything a trembling change; But -- there's papa sitting near, Ready with a look of cheer, Ready with a whispered word No one else has overheard: "Be a little man, my boy! Fill your father's heart with joy." So, dear Father of us all, When relentless school-bells call, -- Schools of failure, schools of woe, Schools of pain, -- and we must go, Then Thy children Thou dost own; We need never go alone. Strange the school where we have come, Ah, so different from home! Strange the lessons, hard to learn, And the master cold and stern. But -- though endless labors stand Waiting for His sovereign hand -- See the Father sitting near, Ready with a look of cheer, Ready with a whispered word Not another soul has heard: "I am here; my child thou art; Fill with joy thy Father's heart!" Earthly fathers cannot stay Longer than the entrance day; But that other loving Friend Stays till school is at an end. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SUSSEX DRINKING SONG by HILAIRE BELLOC THE BIRDS OF VIETNAM by HAYDEN CARRUTH HEGIRA by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SPRINGTIDE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE AWAKENING by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON TO MY CLASS: ON CERTAIN FRUITS AND FLOWERS SENT ... SICKNESS by SIDNEY LANIER |