Aristotle thought a lot about the things that children ought to be taught
He though about ideas and natural laws that were to be sought
He spoke about the laws that direct our existence and gained great wisdom from the human condition
He tried to build a better world for all
Suffered humiliation and suffered a great fall
Son of a physician, a Macedonian by descent
To Plato and the Academy as a youth he was sent
Learned the dialectic as a way of thought
Observed the physical world as a reality to be taught
Founded the Lyceum to advance his observations
His world was a universe with many constellations
He traveled to Asia from court-to-court
To find and teach a king of a different sort
Rule by philosophy was to bring on a new day
The corruption of power was soon to pass away
Murder ended his ideal at this time
He built a monument to express his anger at this great crime
Called by Philip to teach his son
He shaped Alexander’s vision of a new world to be won
He taught the prince to question all the things that he met
The ways of nature and of culture that seemed to be so set
Aristotle returned to Athens to organize his observations
Built a library to preserve his collections
Athens had fallen to Philip and then to his son
Alexander captured Asia and a new day was won
In Athens, jealousy and hatred became the political way
Demosthenes held the political sway
Aristotle, the Macedonian, was seen as a spy
Everything he accomplished seemed to go awry
He fled Athens a wanted man
He met his end in a foreign land
At the end, Aristotle settled on friendship as an important goal
Fame and wealth are transient; they do not feed the soul
A friend is a comrade who will stand by your side
Even when life brings you a troublesome tide
True friends are based on one important condition
Affection that goes beyond all worldly submission
Everyone who wants to live a good life
You must be a good friend despite all the strife
Life is a mystery despite all that science can tell
Fate may choose winners and losers, but all will end well
You soul is eternal, but loves to travel along the stream
Seeking after love, which sometimes proves to be a dream
Virtue is the compass that should guide all you do
It is more than a dream and the only thing that is true
So seek after virtue and forget the rest
It’s the prize you gain when you do your very best
The Professor