a shy and clumsy back row boy
in the cruel light of that first September
just learning to read a woman
he took her mind and followed
leaving his body using only words
down her path until it became his own
and that would have been enough
yet she christened him
before the jocks and stoners
his words shaking high above her head
then reading them
for all to hear
who had ears
his eyes for once not at her feet
he held them to meet hers