I saw you there--there at the bench in the Quad library,
surrounded
By people I did not know, nor care about.
I saw you, but it was after a spell.
I walked around the reading room scanning, thinking of all the
Millions of pages that have been read here, and how many
searches
Have started and ended as the leather volumes passively looked
On and waited. I couldn't find you. Some moments of searching,
of
Wondering if you were there and if I was
Acting the Fool.
But you were there, at a bench on the left,
While I first looked right. I saw you,
Picked out your hair green-blonde in the
Cold mercury-vapor light of the reading lamp.
I stood over you and you saw me. Unexpected, a
Flash of surprise washed over your snow-drift face.
The furrows tightened into a question, then relaxed
Into a smile.
Two flowers I gave you, with a yellow
3M note that I was thinking of you and wishing
You all the best on your exam. Two flowers--one
Purple one white--snatched from my kitchen table in
A moment of delight at romance, and adventure, and
Boredom. They were yours now as I smiled
And walked away. Yours, as you beckoned me back,
Daring not to call out, to penetrate the silence that so
Snugly surrounded us in the moment.
But I headed on, knowing that my task was done, and the night
Was young, and that I would be with you
Again but soon.
Paul DeFlorio, October 2nd, 1995