83 - In '83 I reached my twentieth year

In ’83 I reached my twentieth year,
And, after two years’ delay, left my home.
A hundred miles north, up in Manchester,
I relit the grey matter in my dome.
I read the works of Eliot and Pound,
Of Hawthorne, Melville, Hemingway and West,
Dos Passos, O’Neill, Miller; heard the sound
Of lecturers who thought they were the best.
The girls I met were all pretty clever,
And so my kids have turned out clever, too.
It’s strange, but true, to think that they never
Would have lived, had I not started anew.
A new life in a new town fed my dreams,
With new faces, new places and new schemes.
Sun 26 Nov 2006