Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE FATHER IN SCHOOL, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FATHER IN SCHOOL, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Unfamiliar work and rule
Last Line: Stays till school is at an end.
Subject(s): Fathers; Schools; Students


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.





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