‘Nature I loved; and next to Nature, Art.’
Dean , adult education may seem silly.
What of it, though? I got some willy-nilly
The other evening at your college deanery.
And grateful for it (let’s not be facetious!)
For I thought Epicurus and Lucretius
By Nature meant the Whole Goddam Machinery.
But you say that in college nomenclature
The only meaning possible for Nature
In Landor’s quatrain would be Pretty Scenery.
Which makes opposing it to Art absurd
I grant you—if you’re sure about the word.
God bless the Dean and make his deanship plenary.
