On Learning Latin as One More Distraction (June 29, 2018)

Ablative absolutes are not so hard,

Just keep declensions clearly in your head,

The rest is easy.  In the old schoolyard

The cries of ancient schoolboys, long since dead,

Echo across from wall to wall, rhyme schemes

Of Latin poems known by heart, the whip

Of pedants lashed across their backs.  Time seems

To stand so still or else time seems to skip

Ahead so fast your mind begins to spin.

Dimissis peccatis nostris… that means

Forgive our sins, but you forget that sin

Includes a wandering mind.  In sylvan scenes

Of old a boy might simply know the words

For things — for sky, for grass, for wind, for birds.