C. Antonio Provost

Vista, California

C. Antonio Provost, born in Panama in 1910, came to the United States in 1920 and became a U.S. citizens in 1934. As staff sergeant, he served in the army in World War II for three and a half years overseas. He was employed in the U.S. Postal Service for 30 years. For many years, he was volunteer at the Oceanside City Library and a member of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers). He is a 4th degree knight, member of the Knights of Columbus Council 3162. After his retirement, he reentered college and obtained a degree in philosophy with a minor in sociology and a certificate in gerontology in 1979 at California State University at Long Beach. Since graduating he has done much research in philosophy and sociology and science. Provost published: The Birth of the Modern Renaissance, The Sexual Revolution: Its Impact on Society, and The Opening of the American Mind, and a paper, Alzheimers Disease, A Theory on the Cause & Prevention (Library of Congress catalog #93-93659) and The Reformation of Society Through Adequate Education (Christopher Publishing House, 1997, Hanover, Massachusetts). Some of his poems appeared in The American Poetry Anthology in 1980. In August 1990, he was inducted into The International Society of Poets, as a lifetime member, at their convention in Washington, D.C. "All that is best in great poets of all countries, is not what is national in them, but what is universal. What Shakespeare has to say about human nature and human conduct is likely to be true as and rather more important than, what the summarizer of ten thousand questionnaires can tell us. We found poets could capture the spirit of the entire generation in one poem, for [genuine] poets are also historians. The words of true poems give you more than poems. They give you form for yourself, poems, religions, politics, war, peace, behaviors, histories, essays, and everything else..."

Ode To Plato (427 B.C.-347 B.C.)

What minds have equaled his philosophy,
Or his perceptiveness surpassed?
With his dialogues so many centuries past,
How well did he expose the sophistry
Of blinded peers who led the blind astray,
As those in modern times, from day to day.
Inspiring young and old alike to rise above
The common herd - to lead us to the proper paths
By virtue of concepts, akin to the Divine
The brilliance of his saintly soul,
Enkindles our diminishing humanity
With sparks of spiritually.
How timely are the tenets of your Laws and
Your Republic's principles!
If all could understand you messages
And the meanings of your lofty passages,
Your views could change our troubled world.
When your wisdom is unfurled,
There will be hope and less despair,
But each of us must lend an ear,
For you're indeed a brilliant seer.

How greatful I should forever be,
To Plato who helped to mold my mind,
To keep me from becoming blind
Through studying of his philosophy
Which cured some of my perversity.
My indebtedness to one so very great,
Who enlightened millions of worldly minds,
With treasures greater than in precious mines;
Through the contents of his lofty books,
I was inspired to work and create,
In his veins of mankind's best outlooks;
On problems in the universe
By prose as well as by some verse.

I'm convinced most of what he wrote
Can convert most of the wayward throngs,
If at last they will devote
Moments thinking of their wrongs,
The misdeeds which can be undone
As vices, they cease to condone,
Vices which so many seem to be forever prone.

I'm sure that I'll never know
Someone gifted as great Plato.
Of all the wisdom which he wrote,
Most are worthy of making note;
They served me quite well read and quote,
Reinforcing concepts learned in church and school,
Adding to my spiritual growth, from youth,
Preventing me from being a fool.