Excerpt: The Mythology of You

With fall it all begins again:

A certain crispness in the air

I marvel that the grass is green,

That the trees still keep their leaves.

I spend long afternoons laying on the lawns

Stretched out in sunshine and in shade

Discovering Roman poetry.

You sit beside me on the fountain

Asking for my age and name.

It’s funny now how shocked you were

How young I was, how old you were,

And how you insisted it was only fair

That we be introduced

Having all those classes together.

I never sat beside you in that class,

Those rows of curved desks

With swinging plastic chairs,

Though you dragged me to economics

Where your professor told me to shut up.

It was either that or pirate learning about Vikings.

I had my friends from the first day

But you sat in the back

You were something else,

Separate,

Like I was saving your for later.