Long, endless corridors
echo the sterile sound
of tails, and trials, and tortures
where histories and sciences are bound
On metal shelves, cold and white
rooms and stories on end
Here Shakespeare gained immortality
and Huck freed his first black friend
Plato pleaded for Socrates
while Robin Hood protected the poor
but Scarlet lost Rhett Butler
when the South lost the Civil War
Milton lost his paradise
Hamlet lost Ophelia
Abyssinia was lost to diabetes
and science found gonorrhea
The British clung to Parliament
Americans worshiped their vote
dynasties fell and monarchs ruled
while Heidi raised her goat
Hitchcock thrived on terror
the Lindenburg babe didn’t survive
the Hindenburg exploded
but Patty Hearst was kept alive
Twain ventured the Mississippi
but Old Yeller had to die
Charlotte weaved her web
catching Nixon in a lie
The Kennedys lost their son
the sun is composed of gasses
Mozart composed concertos
while Hitler ruled the masses
Plants photosynthesize
neurons in my brain transmit
as my retinas reflect on books
in the library where I sit
© 2012 Jennifer
Mandell. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment