Michael Malone - Weebly

Mr. Oglethorpe teach Yeats?" (Why was Saar
breathing like that? Was he going to cry?)
"No, well, I don't know. I was thinking about the
poem about the swans. The offspring of those swans
are swimming just where he said they would. I went
there. But you see, I just don't believe he really thought
a time would ever come when it wouldn't matter to him
whether they swam there or not. Wouldn't matter what
color somebody's hair was. Now he's dead—he
warned us he would be. But even when he said it would
happen to him, that was only because other poets who
had said so really were nothing but dust then. And now
the new ones will talk about him, because he really is
dust now, and they think, in their heart of hearts, they'll
never be. Never be nothing. And it comes to that
nothing anyhow. All to that incredible nothing."
(He has no faith, thought Jonathan, surprised that he
had never before considered Saar's religious beliefs or
lack of them.) The headmaster's hand trembled as he
poured another drink. He turned his head aside, and the
curate went quietly into his kitchen, where he put on
some water for tea. When he returned, Saar looked