Sometimes I think
Old friends must cry
When they see me
Struggle for a word.
For they remember
Literary quotes of
Plays and Shakespeare,
I remember not
Lines oft quoted.

Books, old friends,
Read over and over;
Read again as if
Never read before
Like Shakespeare's
Brief candle out.
Out until re-lit
To flicker in some
Random line.

Candle out for
Book once read--
For the fragile
Page has turned.
Lesson learned.