Cadence of Graduation

In Cap & Gown while Pomp & Ceramony sways 
Graduates until they occupy their seats assigned.

Assembled are passing from student to being citizen
With a pronouncement of the hallowed School Board.

Twelve years in coming through the anguish of tests and through the yearly regiment of alphabet seating.

Prepared for the future ? Will their eyes be forced open
To variables of modern day life that education skirts ?

College education or a starting wage job of low worth
Is their horizon. Luckily they'll survive an ordeal of 

Hope, that anguished gnawing eating away at one's 
Stomach in want of self improvement, a better life.

As cream, those whose consistency floated them,
Will still rise to the top in whatever is their pursuit. 

The vast assembly of non-floaters will remain as any 
Other fluid, by hook or crook, seeking their lowest level.

They are destined to become the silent majority, like 
Putty, to be molded by politicians into nodding serfs.

This is for those who have climbed out of the downward Spiraling whirlpool, you, who rise to float, not to sink.

You are entrusted with a fitful World, a dismal sphere ;
While others project the best years are ahead for us.

We must pray, rather you must work for the latter, so
Our Planet, a living organism, can rejuvenate itself.

Those who sing, sing ; the playing band, plays ; the 
Speakers, speak ; the ceremony of pomp, is over.

Spilling out, a new person arrises from ashes of youth.
In spite of it all, they will fill a role suitable for them.

Ronald C. Downie