New Front Gates Poem by Dr Ronnie Bai

New Front Gates

As wild geese's honking wake broadcasts
Their flight in th' sky above,
The presidents of a college,
To leave their marks they love.

No other better show is there
Than th' college's street front gate,
Rebuilt by each new president
To trumpet his office ornate.

The herald is a young professor
Of history who looks east
And west, past, present and ahead
And wants a gate none'll best —

Removed thus is the olden one
For a Tianan Men gate
Blending Aegean marbles and Arc de Triomphe
Though absent his modest portrait.

For three years the new wonder lasts
Until his office goes
To a professor of fine arts,
Who takes th' gate as studios —

Classic and modern is th' new gate:
Giant columns are iron cast
Embossed with figures hand forged
Stainless steel cube beams'll last.

Th' showcase's a three-year eye-catcher
Vied by his successor,
A professor of engineering,
A high-tech whistle blower.

Th' front gate's now fully automated
By motion, voice or smell,
And built of rust/rot/rodent-proof
Steel frame titanium panel.

The new jaw-dropper lasts as long
As his term of office
Before the newly appointed one
Drops it for showing not his face.

His forte th' political studies
Props up a crash barrier
To absorb mad power ramming
At th' gate of live razor blade wire.

Safe as th' White House from armed terror
For three years, male staff fear
What the next new gate will look like
When She smiles with sheer sneer.