If you see two or three A’s you’d probably recognize me, same with C and D but I have nothing to do with grades or degrees.

Can’t hide things under me, though you may try Not a sleeping dog, but still you leave me where I lie In fact, one type of me is the baldest of lies If I’m pulled away quickly, it’s a nasty surprise

I’m not a place, but in me the wise stay Forever arriving while going away Sometimes an object concealed then revealed Sometimes I’m tense, but not in the sense you feel

Left on my own, I’ll help you ascend With age, into violence I’m bound to descend Add a common insect and I’m proliferation without end Add me to art and your castle wall I’ll defend

I can spin for seconds or even minutes, but I cannot be on the bottom. You might see me in a children’s toy box or as a flavor of quark.