Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DISGRACE CORNER, by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DISGRACE CORNER, by                    
First Line: In our kitchen there's a corner that reserved for naughty
Last Line: There's a secondary value to this corner of disgrace.
Subject(s): Children; Dishonor; Punishment; Childhood


In our kitchen there's a corner that reserved for naughty boys,
Who distract their patient mother and who make a lot of noise,
There's a hard-backed wooden rocker with a seat I improvised
Out of rough, unfinished lumber which is very much despised.

Oft it holds our eldest youngster, who at times can be so bad
That you wonder if the tempter rules and dominates the lad,
But an hour of meditation always drives that spirit hence,
And a child was never sweeter than that boy in penitence.

Eventide may find the corner holding fast my second son,
Roguish, naughty, brown-eyed rascal, full of mischief, full of fun,
He gets up from that old rocker 'most the same as when put there,
Though repentant, planning ever mischief new to do and dare.

Then the third boy (just a baby, three short years he's been on earth),
Sometimes fills the rocker sadly, proving Adam in his birth,
It's a lesson, comprehended, though forgotten soon, I fear,
By this darling little cherub, who though naughty is a dear.

We've another boy that's growing, he's not old enough to sit
In that chair, though oft I'm thinking he deserves to every bit,
Such a jolly little shaver, large blue eyes and smiling face,
It would seem a shame to put him in the corner of disgrace.

That old corner has a virtue not apparent from its name,
Though its mission is correcting, it deserves a teacher's fame,
For upon the wall which makes it hangs a map with every tint,
Ruled and lined and filled with letters, towns and cities marked in print.

And for lack of other interest, culprits who oft fill that spot
Learn to spell out all the letters which the printers there have wrought,
And if nothing else comes from it, should it not correct the base,
There's a secondary value to this corner of disgrace.





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