Solitude In Academia

Homer, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Goethe, and Crane; Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Tolstoy, Whitman, and Twain; Whose imagination and toil helped to unfold Stories, philosophies, and lessons to be told. The inquisitive student absorbed in his books, Contemplating and learning while everyone looks At him with judgmental glances, as if to say, “Strange seeing him indoors even on this fine day.” But to him, the weather is of little concern While he is satisfying his deep thirst to learn. Taken in by tales of peasants, lovers, and knights, And those waxing on people’s and government’s rights. Just then, he feels a chilly draft, but no matter, As he tugs at his worn jacket collar’s tatter. Off in the distance, he hears children playing games, But no match for his fables with fanciful names. Lost in some fiction, he really can’t help himself, He thirstily reads his way across his bookshelf. Hungry – but his knowledge appetite can outlast, He ignores stomach growls as the lunch hour has passed. The reader pores on in utter fascination, As if in a trance, but not caused by libation. Searching, grasping, he is mentally enraptured, With meanings bold to subtle all being captured. In deep translation of the scenes, plots, and faces Scribed in earlier times and in other places. He can wait for frolic, frills and things of that kind. For now, the scholar will sit and enrich his mind. 2/26/17