Campion Is A Stage - Shashi Tharoor class of ’71 when in std VIII B in 1968
Campion is a stage
And all the boys in it merely players
They have their mid-terms and their terminals
And one boy in his time play many roles
His acts being seven ages. At first the New Boy
With clean tie and new books – freshly covered
And then the aspiring One-Year-Old
With bullying manner and gleam in eyes
Creeping along unwillingly to school
Then a monitor with chalk in hand writing
Assiduously on the board. Then a cricketer
Full of strange oaths a keen and cunning stroke
Clever at the leg-side sudden and quick to fast balls
Seeking a cricketing reputation even in the bowler’s mouth
Then a school Captain his dark oblong forehead
And moustache of doubtful growth. Hands
Creamed with pointers of useful applications
With hard furrows lined with weakened eyes
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and study-worn master
With spectacles on nose and class at side
His youthful nose has grown a world too large for his shrunk face
And his big manly voice turning again towards childish treble.
Pipes and whistles in his sound
Last scene of all that ends this strange eventful history
Is utter old-boy-ish-ness and mere nonentity
Without chalk or pointer or spectacles
Or ANYTHING …..
Name of Source: Excampionites.com