The Impoverished Student to His Love

We shall enjoy it.

As for him who finds

fault, may silliness

and sorrow take him!

-Sappho

Come live with me and be my love

And we will all the pleasures prove,

And we'll not let the cynic's tongue

Prevent our youth from being young.

Let all the old ones laugh and gape;

Oblivious, we will escape.

Let them be kept like tired sheep;

Untethered we will find our sleep.

Without the help of valium

Or hypnotist, if you will come.

We each will take advanced degrees

In impracticability;

Instead of theses, we will write

Our own bad sonnets, then recite,

Sans footnotes, poems of Marvell, Donne,

Chris Marlowe, Poe, and Dickinson.

We will eschew psychiatrists.

We'll make up songs, not reading lists.

We will depart to well kept dreams

And let them worry how it seems.

Once away from this dark-glass place,

We'll see each other face to face.

And though my pen grows still and dumb,

My heart still prays that you will come.

Richard Matthews

1979