Each of Us Must Climb Our Separate Mountain

By William Byrd

Each of us must climb our separate mountain
To reach at last our own extended view.
We can be no more than what we are,
Yet that is quite enough for us to do.

The world is far too great for comprehension,
And so we only know what we can know.
But given the abilities we're given,
That's still a long and weary way to go.

Yet on the way, how beautiful the moments!
How good it feels to have some skill or art!
How wonderful to pause in awestruck wonder
At what must fill the unsuspecting heart!

And so we're proud of each of you today
For all you've learned, and all you've tried to learn.
Knowledge brings the deepest satisfaction,
Not least because it's something that you earn.

Hail to the Graduate

Hail to the graduate!
Looking great and feeling fit!
Oh, so proud and full of it!
This day belongs to you.

You've been a lovely friend and brother.
In fact, I wouldn't have another.
In fact, I can't--just ask our mother.
But better? There are few.

So go along and have some fun,
Learn some new things on the run,
And should you meet some special one,
Keep me in your heart, too.

To Graduate Is like a Crow

By Domenico Scarlatti


To graduate is like a crow
Flying up into a tree.
Once he gets there he can see
All the children down below.

To graduate is like a ewe
Climbing up a rocky hill.
Up and up she goes until
She's at the top and sees the view.

To graduate is like a frog
Hopping up from stair to stair.
He doesn't know until he's there
How high he is above the bog.

Up and up and up we go
From grade to grade, from hop to hop.
Why do we hop all the way to the top?
When we get there, we will know.

I Want to Make It to My Graduation

By Dimitri Shostakovich



I want to make it to my graduation
Even though I haven't long to live.
I want that one last hard-earned celebration
To give me all the joy that it can give.
I want your pride around me like a song,
To walk within its passion and its beauty,
To feel its pleasure in me sweet and strong,
To be possessed of all of those who love me.
And then I want the lazy afterglow,
The long, slow chatter of the waning day,
The easy confidence of those who know
That something precious has been put away.
Death's a dawn in that its golden light
Reveals the loveliness long hid by night.

Graduations Sometimes Can Be Sad

by Barry Taylor.

Graduations sometimes can be sad,
Removing from our world a world of friends,
An instant that, in golden garments clad,
Divides our early yearnings from our ends.
Underneath our confidence and pride
A sense of loss like music haunts the heart,
Telling us that what we are inside
Is presently a place we must depart.
Our years have yielded paradise and pain,
Nor will we ever taste their truth again.