Booker T.
Was a practical man.
He said, Till the soil
And learn from the land.
Let down your bucket
Where you are.
Your fate is here
And not afar.
To help yourself
And your fellow man,
Train your head,
Your heart, and your hand.
For smartness alone
Is surely not meet-
If you haven't at the same time
Got something to eat.
At Tuskegee
He built a school
With book-learning there
And the workman's tool.
He started out
In a simple way
For yesterday
Was not today.
Sometimes he had
Compromise in his talk--
For a man must crawl
Before he can walk
And in Alabama in '85
A Negro was lucky
To be alive.
But Booker T.
Was nobody's fool:
You may carve a dream
With an humble tool.
The tallest tower
Can tumble down
If it be not rooted
In solid ground.
So, being a far-seeing
Practical man,
He said, Train your head,
Your heart, and your hand.
Your fate is here
And not afar,
So let down your bucket
Where you are.