I didn't know you then;
I didn't know you when
Time was rushing fast
Along the snaky miles,
The winding 50's roads
That left behind my past.
In my Chevy rocket ship
I fled along those roads
Past stubble fields, the
Lighted chore-time barns,
The yellow dead grass knolls,
Toward a brightening sky,
The University space time 50's world
Where the past would leave no residue.
I didn't know it then, that
I was hurtling toward our rendezvous.
2
I didn't know you then:
I didn't know you when
My nights were burning late
The endless taper of my hope
Behind the grudging hallway doors
In rooms so celibate.
Could I have fixed your voice
In the tempting ventriloquistic laughter
Of the girls behind the walls,
Beyond my festering desk and blotter,
They who haunted me forever after?
Among the faceless classroom crowds,
The parade of fellow roomers,
Would I have caught your eye?
Or would I have sensed you then
Among the nameless passers-by?