Strange creatures with numbers

What education encourages is a strange creature

it's a schizophrenic thing that decides very rapidly

that it's done pondering unanswered questions

at the command of a voice!


it's an insecure beast discouraged from expression

for when in justice it dares question authority

the question is disfigured, made ugly and ridiculed

Was that a stupid question?


but at the same time this creature is patronized

told obedient monotony will bring fairytale fortunes

while the masters think a false truth

that this patronage is only practical


lest the beast be told by the magic of The Grades

that it's fated, in the false apparent truth of the magic

obviously, to be a beast is to be a beast-to-be

since the magic is truth and truth is magic -- common sense!


while those prodigious few divined by those holy numbers

perhaps more faithful in spirit, but defiled

mindless, alone and drenched in obscurity

wasteful. wishful.