In Awe of Dumas

I must confess an arrogance
I'd not been thus aware
So steeped am I in modern prose
classics have not a chair

Of several thousand books I've read
and hundreds that I've heard
The classic writers I have tried
ignorance was uncured

I've read Wells and Jules Verne
as every school boy should
But Homer's epic works of verse
caused my glazed eyes to hood

James Cooper's Leather Stockings I
have only "read" in film
Daniel Day of Hawkeye fame
elevates the human phylum

The classic education of
our not too distant past
Was phasing out before my time
and thus the die was cast

My freshman year, the first allowed
then French as an elective
The death knell of the Latin Club
it's peal was so reflexive

The modern mind, so occupied
no room for contemplation
So much our labor saving stuff
stops past investigation

A casual choice of aural food
let's try Count Monte C
I'm so surprised the modern mind
that Dumas had to be

I listen, humbled in my turn
I think of my contempt
Authors not on bestsellers lists
who's copyright's exempt

They form the base of what we read
they're great in any light
I've been remiss but I can learn
it's not too late to fight

Richard Higley © Aug 2011