with apologies to A.E. Housman

[metaphorliteral]

On Cayuga Lake our school's in trouble;
in flocks and droves her students leave.
Of course, when fees and levies double
some pay the price, and some must grieve.

Tuition now at Wells is higher
than at any state or county school.
The courses are refiner's fire.
A third of freshmen lost's the rule.

Oh, 'twas before my time, a student
across the restless lake would gaze;
God only knows what that young girl meant--
now our school's in co-ed days.

Then, the sycamore would shiver
as winds from off the lake blew high.
Oh, from destruction Wells deliver!
So pled the maiden, so plead I.

It's not the men who brought the trouble,
it's not the fault of faculty.
Administration's caused this rubble!
Will Wells survive? We'll have to see.