In this vast and motley throng
With bound backs and worried air
By the tide now rushed along
Unperturbed and debonair
Is a group of devotees
of the Arts and Sciences
“Running Water” now distilled
And the mind by Littler filled
Hydrostatics and dynamics
Magnetism and mechanics
Let the barrister put silk on
We are judged by our Nelkon.
Minds range o’er lands and seas
Eyes scan Philips Atlases;
Some at Latin conjugations
Realise they’ve passed their stations,
While their friends in French immersed
Are not irregularly distressed
Its ‘plane’ that some are not inclined
To a Trigonomical turn of mind
(Simultaneous equations
Do not make them pass their stations)
Where come they from, Hiawatha?
Where do they go, Minniehaha?
What is that great sign they follow
What is that great sign that guides them,
What talisman is that we see,
What palace full of mystery?
‘Tis but a school and the sign we see
Reads -
“This way for the G.C.E.”