FAVORITES

Who are the students who impress me best,
Those stars whom I’ll remember when they’re gone?
They’re ones with a distinctive sort of zest
For bookish lore toward which they’re deeply drawn.

They’re keen to read and love the sounds of words
And how words wreathe the sense of sentences,
Yet they’re not simply super-studious nerds:
Asked why they study, they’ll just say, “Because.”

Which means, I think, because they’re curious,
Because they yearn to ponder what’s unknown,
Because their wonder is compendious,
And they enjoy being quiet and alone.

For only then they’re clear to contemplate
The depths of literature and know what’s great.

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