It began as a glowing ember,
So innocent and small.
Then with care it started to grow,
Turning into its own life form.

"Feed me!" it cried. Desperate for the fuel.
I read Socrates and Plato-
I could feel the flame ignite!
So Medea and Antigone I added in tow.

See, what I read caught fire inside me.
The once small coal had grown-
Now so hot and red-
Needing all that had ever been known.

Then came Hugo, Ibsen, Twain, and the Bronte girls,
They further burned the blaze.
Finally O'Brien, Wilde, and Dickens
Prepared me for my future days.

I am the torch, this literature, the light.
If I hold them all, high like upon a tower,
Then I am the beacon, a guide for the others,
For ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power.