Classic Poem

He still taught Latin, though his ivied window
Had lost to red brick walls its elms forever —
Where Checked-Shirts mastered, with Chinese and Hindoo,
Swamp-tiles or cantilever.

He said Lucretius knew the stars and sun,
And Tacitus the state, and Horace men;
And gave to youth what he in youth had won
From Rome and Goettingen.

A dear disciple, watched by each trustee,
A traveler, brisk for Alma Mater's glory
(With Caesar's force and Tully's master-plea
For the new dormitory),

Became our Prex. He put new bonds in bank;
Screwed up our grading, made clean sports our pride;
And (like Maecenas) raised the old man's rank ...
The year before he died.