LIBERAL EDUCATION

for Daniel R. DeNicola

   To nourish, flourish and then realize
   The fruits of education is the aim
   Of Academe—finally to grow wise—
   As sages and philosophers proclaim.

   Contentment, bliss and happiness elude
   Those who don’t resolutely seek and strive
   To find the ultimate beatitude,
   But merely sleep and feed to stay alive.

   To educate is to draw out what lies
   Within—inchoate, latent, impotent—
   Potentials we have yet to realize,
   Which myths and scriptures say are heaven sent.

        The aim of higher learning is to birth
        What’s great in us, and demonstrate its worth.

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