My Old School

I saw her for the first time over 50 years ago.

And it was love at first sight.

I saw her again last weekend.

And she was even more beautiful.

Georgetown University.

In Washington, DC.

I had not been to campus for quite a while, so I decided to attend a mini-reunion for the Class of ‘76 (that would be 1976!)

I stayed with my high-school buddy Don DeAmicis.
Who happens to be a professor of law at Georgetown.

We got to drink his bourbon for a change.

I got to talk to classmates I have not seen in decades.

But the highlight was having lunch with my Romantic poetry professor, Paul F Betz.

He was the one who encouraged me to pursue my wildly improbable life.

That you all know so well.

I went on to study at Brown University.

Where I got my PhD (a Latin abbreviation that stands for “piled high and deep”).

I am very fond of Brown.

Especially because of the fellow graduates I have come to know.

But there is only one true love: my alma mater.

Often translated as “nourishing mother”.

But I prefer a more literal version: Mother of my soul.

After Brown I pursued a career in teaching.
Which, despite life’s twists and turns, I have never really abandoned.

I told Dr Betz that in the spring I will be discussing some of the same poems that he taught me over a half-century ago.
In my second course for Beacon Hill Seminars:
Comprehending The Great Odes.

He was very pleased.

I will go back to campus as long as my legs can carry me.
It always gives me such great joy.

To see her again.

Thank you, Georgetown.

My Dear Girl.