Play for me – a happy tune
Of butterflies and sun and June
Play for me – a dancing reel
To match the lilting joy I feel
Play for me – a solemn dirge
To mark where love and grief converge
Play for me – a mournful air
Perhaps I can find solace there
Play for me – a regal march
To high step through a milestone arch
Play for me – a simple rhyme
So I can clap my hands in time
Play for me – an ancient ode
To guide me on this weary road
Play for me – a lullaby
Of twinkling stars and midnight sky
Low shuffling roar as the onlookers
Like marbles, each roll to a chair
‘Pomp and Circumstance’ swells and unfurls
A red carpet high up in the air
The black caps come marching in two by two
With the fragrance of freedom fresh and cool
As they step through the last of the twirling hoops
Of the long slinky tunnel of school
After one last powerful stage show
From the gatekeepers of degrees
While the bobbing sea of black diamonds
Keeps from bumping their hats and their knees
Each graduate parades across the stage
To be recognized for their achievement
The taut threads of hush in the audience snap
Into fireworks of bursting excitement
The black caps go marching out two by two
On the swell of the crowd and the music grand
But after all’s quiet, what really counts
Is the hard-won diploma each holds in their hand
Three months of snow and ice and cold
An arctic polar land
Three months of scorching, humid heat
A home on desert sand
And in between, three months of rain
A muddy flooded strand
But the other three months rival none
Rare days of warmth and green and sun
That’s why Ohio’s so grand
Up the creek without a paddle
No way to get by
Just have to get back in the saddle
And give another try
They say it’s not rocket science
Well I have no PhD
But if you want to hear my two cents
It looks worse than math to me
Cars circling round and round
For the best space to be found
Counting minutes once they park
Out come faces pale and dark
Hurry with a bag of books
Giving others sideways looks
Stoic buildings staring on
Until every student’s gone
Into the doors to find pale rooms
Where they’ll sit through boring dooms
To learn or just watch a show
Of lecturers who think they know
The answers but don’t have a clue
Of what real teachers would do
But these students won’t give in
Until their new knowledge they win
Though they are battered, worn, and pale
They’re determined to prevail
Climbing mountains – upward trail
Step by step this height to scale
Gurgling brook measuring time
On a long and steadfast climb
Climbing mountains – up so high
Rolling peaks touch clear blue sky
So far above our place and time
The height, the power of the climb
Climbing mountains – safe retreat
The place where sky and mountains meet
Towering rocks stand strong through time
A shelter from the weary climb
Climbing mountains – heart aglow
Traveling back to earth below
Hold this treasure for all time
The hope, the victory of the climb
