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Rondeau (2nd place): "We Learn To Love"

The second-place finisher in Comment's poetry contest; the 2009 form was: rondeau.

We learn to love in family,
Protean school of charity,
its mundane halls and humble space
parochial tutors of grace,
an intimate academy.

Then leave behind simplicity
for a sagacious faculty,
unaware even in that place
we learn to love.

Love at the university?
Where learning’s a commodity?
Despite erasing every trace,
schooling of hearts persists apace.
Apprenticed incrementally,
we learn to love.

James K.A. Smith James K.A. Smith
James K.A. Smith teaches philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ... read more »


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