A call has gone out, to the ends of the Earth:
Harvard children, return to the place of your birth!
Wise men are at odds, and your input is needed;
Some holiday spirits are flagging, depleted
In spite of the Brownie Scouts’ desperate measures.
Come back to the fold, with your gold and your treasures.

The children of Harvard are lost and unsure;
Can they find their way back to the General Store?
Can they loiter outside and hang out on the wall?
Will that dear, weary drugstore be open at all?
(And where in the world have they put the Town Hall?)
Our teachers are solid; why isn’t their job?
What may come of the battle of snob/anti-snob?

But lo! What bright light doth appear in the heavens,
To shine o’er that land (which some hope to call Devens)?—
It guides the way home. All ye faithful, do come!
Spread the word to the far-scattered Bromfield alum
And the shepherds who left to tend flocks far afield
(Jim Smith, and Paul Cohen)… Can Harvard be healed?

The news is now flashing from sources revived
In a town where community stories once thrived
And all who love Harvard look homeward with hope
That a cup of strong coffee will help us to cope.
Come back to the center! Come praise the good cop
As he cites you for running the new four-way stop!
Affordable units? In fact, they abound
In this town, every place barns and mangers are found!
Let’s find what we lost, on the classified pages…
And watch Harvard ripen, not rot, as it ages.

These pilgrims to Harvard then bow to their knees
And they lay their gifts down beneath Boy Scout–cut trees…
And give thanks for the signs that some folks are still growing
In orchards and backyards (that others are mowing)
The fruits of tradition that bring simple joys
Along with “attendant dust, odors, and noise”!

—Montana Miller (from far Bowling Green, Ohio)

Montana Miller is the daughter of Harvard Post founders and former editors-publishers Kathleen Cushman and Ed Miller.