Sonnet 32 - Closed Minds Poem by Dennis Lange

When they are young, the children go to schools -
Industrious will take all they can get.
They take what makes one wise, dump what makes fools -
A mind should be both filter and a net.

They're like an ocean - many rivers come
And bring their waters to the spreading sea.
But they should grow, discern, rejecting some.
All men must measure and not mindless be.

The mortar and the brick to close a mind
Are oft applied at age too young to know
That more's to learn ahead than is behind -
A sapling takes long years an oak to grow.

A mind should close (or else it brings disgrace)
When ev'ry piece is perfectly in place.