I am, of course, referring to a well known and apparently frequently misquoted rhyme:
Yesterday upon the stairI've known this rhyme since childhood and have to admit than when it came to mind while working on this column I realized that I had no idea who wrote it. It shows up numerous times on the web, and most of these times it's credited to someone named Hughes Mearns. I don't know who this Mearns person is, though when I tried to find him via the web I discovered that someone with the same name was an educator in the "progressive education" movement of John Dewey, and that he initiated numerous creative writing programs for children. Sounds good, though whether or not it's the same person is still anybody's guess.
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
Oh how I wish he'd go away.
Go to: oh, how I'm glad he went away, or
Go to: Only a pawn in their game