proper lesson

the journey we've begun has no right end

or so we think since all our hopes are wild

for there are many motives we'll defend

though not all of our charges are defiled

by hatreds of the sort that you reviled

when speaking in plain justice of the fact

that none of us come through the world intact

each of the winners learns just how to bend

the moment that she stops being a child

while he who's wise knows best just to pretend

a temperament that's always calm and mild

just so the watching eye is safe beguiled

none of these matters is at all abstract

keep this in mind and you won't be attacked

not one of us can think now to depend

on those who might be honourably styled

our champions we can't call on one friend

whose name is not in the red record filed

to live full grown and not die as a child

that's all the purpose we will not be wracked

but others must be seen to live and act