ballade of higher education

the journey which we've taken heretofore
has been one which demanded that we wait
and learn some of the long-time walkers' lore
before we put ourselves in the hands of fate
and yet as it befalls i must now relate
that someone who had yet to mark the map
felt obliged to set the more experienced straight
and insist that we had reached the final lap

now someone who thinks they know the score
might turn out after all to be quite sensate
but those who've been on the road before
have in their turn each come upon a spate
of eager beavers whose small minds conflate
entering the trials with achieving the cap
who think that they could set the going rate
and insist that we had reached the final lap

in the distance we might descry some more
foolish adventurers hurrying to reach the gate
not knowing if they ventured on peace or war
the glittering prizes their imaginations inflate
into who knows some giant pile of gold and plate
each would believe their preceptor is a sap
conceive that on thin ice it's safe to skate
and insist that we had reached the final lap

prince we've learned we cannot habituate
apprentices to see where lies the trap
they'll think that fortune's already in a crate
and insist that we had reached the final lap