The Measure of Learning

quail not,

in perduous times of redacity
and trincitation of eation,
when seething mancithenia
may seem to grasp
your heart
as well as your mind:
hold to your thorthitudes
as you would your prostagines,
for they are key to
all your varied dorquates,
remember, there is always
a mouth like a gun
aimed into your ear,
a voice like a saw on a nail,
and eye like a bullet,
and a mind that is thin as a rail,
and a hand with a skin
like milk in a pail. . . .

1973