Out on the prairie so wide
The school buses wending their way
From the towns they travel
For miles on the gravel
An hour before it is day.
And the winter wind blows
Cross the corn stubble rows
Where the dirt has turned the snow gray
And the children walk down to the road
From the farmhouses' warm kitchen glow
Stand waiting and yearning
To see the bus turning
And the sweep of the headlights' glow
And they climb up inside
And away they all ride
Past the farms and the fields full of snow
They were brought up to faithfully go
Although the weather's severe
Without complaining
Snowing or raining
But come to school in good cheer
And take your seat
Though there isn't much heat
On the coldest day of the year
And they think about math as they go
And the chemistry of atmosphere
And unequal equations
And French conjugations
And the sonnets of William Shakespeare
And then up the drive
At the school they arrive
On the darkest day of the year
And off in New York and Rome
China, L.A., Tokyo,
Live women and men
Whose journeys began
In this schoolroom long long ago
Who sat at this desk
And took this same test
And knew the same things you know.
The men on the 45th floor
They once were bus children too
And stood on the sidewalks
Or by the mailbox
In the dark as the cold winds blew
They stood here and shivered
And then were delivered
And the same dears will happen to you
And in due course you will fly
Away, young women and men
With mixed emotions
Cross mountains and oceans
And become what we could not have been.
We will tenderly kiss you
Goodbye and miss you
And never will see you again.