ODE to the Engineer
Who is the man who designs our pumps, with judgment, skill and care?
Who is the man who builds them and keeps them in repair?
Who has to shut them down because the valve seats disappear?
The bearing wearing, gearing tearing mechanical engineer.
Who buys his juice for half a cent and wants to change a dime?
Who, when we’ve signed the contract, can’t deliver half the time?
Who thinks a loss of 26 percent is nothing queer?
The volt inducing, load reducing electrical engineer.
Who takes a transit out to find a sewer line to tap?
Who then with care extreme locates the junction on the map?
Who is it goes to dig it up and finds it nowhere near?
The mud bespattered, torn and tattered civil engineer.
Who thinks with his product we would all be in the lurch?
Who has a heathen idol which he designates research?
Who tints the creeks, perfumes the air, and makes the landscape drear?
The stink evolving, grease dissolving, chemical engineer.