Sparks Building 1968

an undergraduate in the elevator
with the head of department
awe
respect
reverence

until he said
"when do you think you'll disappear?
guys like us do that. One of my friends
disappeared from Grad School in '49. He left a wife
and a kid behind.

I met him in a bar in Jamaica in '60. He told me not
to use his name"

I'm still here, master of Provencal.
Still visible. Still invisible.
Neither famous
nor obscure
learning still
and teaching naught
I feel the shame
of missing my calling
of missing my duty
to pass on the thought
unlikely to live it
unlikely to change