Norton's Anthology of English Literature

I look fondly on the taped
and ragged edged, paperback copies
of Norton's Anthology of English Literature
volumes 1 and 2
some 35 years old and
gathering dust in the upper corner
of my bookshelves.
They remind me of college days
turning pages to meet the works
of poets and writers like
Sir John Suckling's obscure
"Why so pale and wan fond lover?"
or more closely associate with
the meaning of verse such as
Robert Burns' annually quoted
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to min'"

For these books do bring to mind
a young man's days
infused and infatuated with literature and verse
and the folly that one day
I may contribute to the genre
a fraction as much.

"'Tis better to have loved and lost
than never to have loved at all."
Yes, Lord Tennyson
you are so right.
'Tis far better.
Even if the faded memories
feel far, far away.