Contributor: Stephen Walter

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A soft breeze tickles me, amidst rustling autumn leaves,
it aches for me to shed my load and float away,
I do so love the breeze, unprejudiced, relieving my strain. . . .I allow it to overtake me, and fling me about the grass.

The midday sun throws its hammer; westbound rays ripple atop crests of the flood-tide as I sit looking (not seeing) with rigid body, like bamboo,
I feel like child – so firm to the ground, but vast as the sky –

A squirrel darts before my throne, from which everything is beautiful, and looks to me with eyes of loneliness, I invite him to stay . . .

The river, moat of the great city– flowing eternally – chuckles, mocking my position,
knowing it is the subject of my envy . . . . it knows I must return to class soon,
I am accosted by the gong of a distant spire; the sound assaults my ears, and threatens repose,
the ring is sharp, cutting my stay short,
It is hard for me to rise, each arm of grass reaching around, pulling closer their gentle lover,
wanting me to stay, I must break your heart.

I begin my journey back . . .

Children are playing in the park, a young boy and girl are playing on the swings,
the boy has fallen off his set, and is attended to by his female companion
. . . . I love her compassion,

A young woman appears in the natural spotlight ahead, the sunlight streaking,
racing around her concaved hips,
I wish to be adjoined to them, to drape them, I envy each and every sunbeam,
that falls upon her,
I stare into the eyes of this perfect stranger. . . . does she realize her beauty?
Does she know she struts atop my pedestal?
Can she feel the newly woven carpet my dreams have laid before her?
I utter a greeting but hear no reply,
my words are lost to the wind. . . .

I have returned to campus, passed unseen boundaries, where suddenly the atmosphere is heavy,
the asphalt is marshland, my limbs are dense. . . . each step tapping into fading reserve,
right brain yields to left,

Buildings seem my shadow – surrounding me – closing like doors the dreamland I had strolled . . .


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I am a civil engineering student at the Stevens Institute of Technology. I play pickup basketball, lift weights, eat fruit, and write poems.