Classic Poem

I SAY that those who have forgot the feel
Of the good God's dirt beneath a grimy heel,
Whose hands are heavy with a signet ring,
Cannot teach me the worth of anything.

I say that those who read within a book
May look quite wise, but that is all they look;
Perhaps some clown may find a better school
Than those who sit the day through on a stool.

And if this be the way that wise men go,
Why, then, the fool knows all the wise men know;
Nay, something more the wise men never guessed —
Why, then, the wise man is a fool at best.

I say the clown in being a good fool
Is wise as he who keeps the village school,
And a child who knows one-half the throstle sings
Is sager than Solomon, king of kings.