Classic Poem

I hadn't asked about it for a week or two, and so
The stage of his arithmetic I really didn't know;
I had watched him through addition and division and the rest,
But I wasn't really certain just how far he had progressed
Till I saw him sitting, troubled and, I knew it from his actions,
From the way he chewed his pencil, that he'd journeyed into fractions.

He sprawled upon the table, and he twisted in his chair,
He sat and fumbled sadly with a tangled lock of hair;
He muttered and he sputtered and he gazed about the room,
A puzzled little fellow in a cloud of darkest gloom.
Then I softly asked him: " Sonny, what's the cause of these distractions? "
And he shook his head and answered: " Aw, gee whiz! " We're into fractions! "

Oh, the time was I was like him; once I wore that troubled look.
Once I chewed my bit of pencil and I fumbled with the book,
Once I sprawled upon the table and was floundering about
In a labyrinth of darkness and a dreadful mire of doubt;
And I chuckled as I saw him reproduce my troubled actions
When my youthful head was bothered by the mystery of fractions.