Present Perfect

PRESENT PERFECT
- poem for a summer school teaching English

CONJUGATION
I have returned
Thou hast come 
He has set off
She has kissed and waved
We have greeted
You have gathered
They have assembled

The young ones the old ones
The joiners and the out-in-the-cold ones
The sad boys the bad boys
The mild boys and the wild boys
The Shy girls, the sly girls 
The good girls and no-better-than-they-should girls
The skivers and the strivers
The schemers and the dreamers

PAST HISTORIC
Others have come
I have kept the memory

She with the bright eager face and wisdom beyond her age
He in the body of a boy but with full grown mind of a sage
He the humble giant, driven to knowledge that he pursues        
She with the questing soul of a scholar and romantic heart of a muse

They have departed
The Earth has revolved

And today we teach Present Perfect

PRESENT
Outside the classroom
Sun cloud and tree dapple the grassy vale
Aspen and willow whisper and sway a graceful measure
Blackbird, thrush and warbler trill a delicate scale
Daisies, buttercups and cowslips scatter their transient treasure
Above and beyond in skies of azure and white
Skylarks ascend and red kites soar in the cerulean
And gaze down upon this fleeting Elysian scene
PERFECT

Tags: rhyme, metaphor, imagery,