Although I did not include it above, part of this poem's formal title is the following parenthetical phrase: (After reading two paragraphs in a newspaper). I have always assumed that the newspaper article to which this refers was about the panther in the school. But I don't know that.

I do know that I was reminded of this poem this morning when I read two paragraphs in a newspaper about a recently completed, $5 million, five-year study which found that "Minnesota's abstinence-only policy for sex education isn't working;" at least it isn't working at the three junior high schools where the study was conducted.

My first thought upon reading this article was, whatever happened to parents teaching "abstinence-only" policies to their 12, 13, and 14-year-olds? Maybe that would work better, thought I. My recollection is that system worked pretty well back in the 1950's when I was in junior high school and hoping, in vain it turned out, for an innocent kiss on a hayride from one of the girls in my class. But that's another story.

My second thought had to do with this poem "Valuable" by the wonderful British poet, Stevie Smith. Specifically, my thought was that maybe the school program didn't work because it concentrated on teaching the children that the principal reason they should not have sex at their age is the risk of getting a disease or getting pregnant. Why not, thought I, teach them that a better reason to abstain is that they are valuable, not cheap. Or as Stevie Smith put it, "because I am valuable, I say no."

And this led me to my third thought, which relates to a line from the philosopher George Santayana's Soliloquies in England, in which he discussed life in a changing world and tempered his observations with the statement, "But then I am an old fogy and almost an ancient philosopher, and I don't count."

Anyway, please enjoy this poem by Stevie Smith. I have always liked it a great deal. I will return to Ms. Smith's poetry again in these pages, at which time I'll make some comments on her life, her work, and her esteemed place in the world of English poetry.