OF THE ART OF READING BEING LOST

Ladies and gentlemen, let me present my speech.
I’m going to reflect upon the art of reading
Which, as they say, seems to have been lost.
“So have I heard, and do in part believe it”.
…The sacred art of reading being lost…
Lost never to return? Shall we agree?
Has everyone forgotten how to add a letter to another
And thus make sense of everything that’s written?
Incredible! Improbable! Unlikely! Just nonsense!
How can it happen with people claiming to be civilized?
Not to read books? Not even letters? Emails? SMS? Nor anything at all?
Nay, not this! “Speak no more!” It’s a mistake, a mousetrap, a deadlock…
…What does seem true is vanishing of reading books
For pleasure, for enjoyment, for ideas,
For tender feelings, tears and laughter, just for fun…
Books, not TV, or video, or even the hero of today –
His Majesty Computer - let God bless him -
It’s indispensable; but still we miss
Some very special moments in life, some magic
When we sit down with a book and open it…
To read or not to read, - “that is the question;
Whether ‘tis better in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows” aimed at us by fiction
Or to put down the book and not to learn
Of anything that’s kept under the covers for centuries?
To close the book and by this act “to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks”
We suffer while reading about people,
Their thoughts and feelings, their lives and deaths,
About the past and future, animals and birds,
The earth and stars, the Universe, the world?
To miss all this? What for? Just to stay safe?
But shall we all remain human? Or maybe robots?..
So let us pray we never lose the art of reading,
And save it for the sake of the emotional experience
We get through reading. It is a priceless source
To keep life going and humanity alive.
With this conclusion let me stop and humbly
Consider arguments exhausted. Here
My public speech is over. Thank you for attention.