Speculation
COMES a train of little ladiesFrom scholastic trammels free,Each a little bit afraid is,Wondering what the world can be!
Is it but a world of trouble—Sadness set to song?Is its beauty but a bubbleBound to break ere long?
Are its palaces and pleasuresFantasies that fade?And the glory of its treasuresShadow of a shade?
Schoolgirls we, eighteen and under,From scholastic trammels free,And we wonder—how we wonder!—What on earth the world can be!