Latin Teacher! Latin Teacher! burning bright... (from Songs of Classroom Experience)

Latin teacher! Latin teacher! burning bright
In the ablative absolute quizzes of the night,
What immortal 'mei' or 'ego'
Could frame thy Ciceronian symmetry?

In what distant 'alto' or 'caelum'
Burnt the 'ignis' of thine eyes?
On what wings 'audere' [not 'audire'] he aspire?
What the hand dare 'carpe diem'?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of Ovid's heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
Augustus' hand? & to Black Sea dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
Do any of these children retain the myth of Vulcan in the brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors Juno clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did the Latinist smile his work to see?
Did he who made the passive periphrastic make thee?

Latin teacher! Latin teacher! burning bright
In the ablative absolute quizzes of the night,
What immortal 'mei' or 'ego'
Could frame thy Ciceronian symmetry?


w/ apologies to William Blake, 1794