in his mind the myteries loomed.
question after question painted his doom.
college: the biggest mystery of all.
what was happening behind those walls?

he could follow directions, to some degree.
"fill in these blanks, and answer all, please."
handing in the forms and asked to wait.
a winter in Siberia was an easier fate.

instead he roamed each hall and floor.
wondering what lurked behind those doors.
Confusion, Perplexity; his Siamese twins.
knowing not, where to start, where to begin.

to unravel this conundrum of campus life
meant following blindly, facing the strife
of life as an alien in an alien land.
gladly doing the Pointing Fingers' demands.

fill in this form; and fill out that one.
alone and bewildered he sat, undone.
what's a major?, what's a minor?
is there a lost-soul searcher, a Lemuel finder?

like a beached whale awaiting rescue,
he raised his head only to view
all the passersby who acted with diligence,
to and fro they walked, with apparent intelligence.

he thought himself alone: forgotten, forsaken.
evidence of ignorance, the SATs he'd taken.
like Sisyphus he, too, had his stone
and surrounded by hundreds, he felt alone.

how could he battle those unknown giants
of Education-ese; professors so pliant.
he had as his Damasculean sword
an head empty; no information stored.

when he wracked his brain, not a noise was heard.
when he stammered and stuttered, tripping over words
of 'know whut i'm sayin', know whut i mean?'
it didn't work with the professors, or Dean.

so, alone he was; confused, he stayed.
degree plans were concepts that others parlayed.
he was lost and languished in the Education-game.
born his mama's son and that he remains.

04/18/2005