Farewell to Moristotle & Co.

James T. Carney & Mo Dean
Yale, June 1964

By James T. Carney




Behind him lay the gray Azores,
Behind the Gates of Hercules;
Before him not the ghost of print
Before him only wordless seas.
Moristotle said: “Now must we pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone.
Brave Reader, speak, what shall I say?”
“Why, say, Blog on! Blog on! And on!”

“My wife grows mutinous day by day;
My wife grows ghastly wan and weak.”
The Moristotle thought of home; a spray
Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.
“What shall I say, brave Reader, say,
If we sight not a word at dawn?”
“Why, you shall say at break of day,
Blog on! Blog on! Blog on! And on!”

They blogged and blogged, as winds might blow,
Until at last the blanched Dean said:
“Why, now not even God would know
Should I and all my men fall dead.
These very winds forget their way,
For God from lack of words is gone.
Now speak, brave Reader, speak and say”—
He said: “Blog on! Blog on! And on!”

They blogged. They blogged. Then spake the Dean.
This mad printer shows his teeth to-night.
He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
With lifted teeth, as if to bite!
“Brave Reader, say but one good word:
What shall we do when hope is gone?”
The words leapt like a leaping sword:
“Blog on! Blog on! Blog on! And on!”

Then, pale and worn, the Reader kept his deck,
And peered through darkness. Ah, that night
Of all dark nights! And then a speck—
A light! A light! A light! A light!
A sign appeared; it seemed to say
Dean’s out of words; he’s had his day.
For God’s sake give him his crown of bays.
His blog is over; at home should he stay.
_______________
Both author and editor are grateful that the poem “Columbus,” by Joaquin Miller, is in the public domain.

Copyright © 2023 by James T. Carney James T. Carney christened Morris Dean “Mo” the day they met on Yale’s Old Campus in 1960, and has called him so ever since.