When I listened to le savant professor,
When I sat in the lecture hall as he expounded on Descartes, Pascal, and Marx,
When I heard elucidations of metaphysics, reductionism, and form,
When the suppositions, tenets, and preuves were meted out,
How soon I would drift off, grow tired et ennuyé,
Till rising, then gliding softly from my back-aisle bench,
I’d exit into the gray, misty Parisian air and souvent
Find more wisdom seeping up from une demi-tasse de café.
© 1972, Kenneth Koziol. All rights reserved.
