ELEGY Poem: “Old Sages” , by Stan Lake

Robert Frost taught me
Of the world’s beauty
Swinging from birch trees
That’s what he taught me

Wilfred Owen taught me
Of the world’s cruelty
Pro patria mori
That’s what he taught me

William Golding taught me
Of the world’s humanity
Sucks to your asthma piggy
That’s what he taught me

George Orwell taught me
Of the world’s equality
But some are more equal than me
That’s what he taught me

E.O. Wilson taught me
Of the world’s ecology
Ants and their communities
That’s what he taught me

Steve Irwin taught me
Of the world’s ferocity
But to always love the unlovely
That’s what he taught me

CS Lewis taught me
Of the world’s divinity
From Narnia to mere Christianity
That’s what he taught me

Rachel Carson taught me
Of the world’s fragility
When songbirds fall silently
That’s what she taught me