THESAURUS REX

                “Abate, abash, abet, abstemious”:
               So started out the list of words to learn
               In seventh grade (First Form), and did we fuss
               Thinking that Sir (Jacques Harlow) was too stern.

               It is amazing, though, how attitudes evolve,
               So by year’s end, we’d somehow got on board
               With this strict regimen and learned resolve,
               Enlarging, week by week, our vast word hoard.

               Yet more than that, we grew more curious
               About new words we met in what we read
               As our small binders grew compendious
               And our intelligence was richly fed.

                    Dear Sir, now long departed from this earth,
                    I thank you for my word hoard’s ample girth.

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