for all my students at Harlow & Braintree, a goodly crowd
If we praise you
we praise ourselves
for we are all
the lowly people of this place
If we praise you
we praise our children
for they too bring hope
for what does not change
is the will to change
our children and yours
shall carry that on again
If we praise you
we praise our gods
familiar & flourishing
as fully here
as we or you
unabased we face them
& raise up their images
all the gods
upon the trees of this world
& all the others
their faces shine
let your faces shine
let our faces shine
radiating life between us
If we praise you
we praise our poets
for they were all strangers once
before they fell fertile & uttered
If we praise you
we praise our cousins
the blessed holothurians
lovely & sloppy
never to be eaten
addressed w/ a smile of delight
If we praise you
we praise all the moths
& all the foxes too of this town around