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...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: EUGENIA TODD by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE RIDE-BY-NIGHTS by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE ESTONIAN BRIDAL SONG by JOHANN GOTTFRIED VON HERDER CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS A PAUSE by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI CHORUS FROM A TRAGEDY by LEONARD BACON (1887-1954) |