Campus Sunday Night

I’m walking across campus and it’s just
around sunset and there’s no one out.
All I can hear are the bells at T-Hall chiming
the half hour.

And I’m supposed to be at work, but not for another
30 minutes. And I start to notice things.
Like the way the bricks stick out at the top of the Johnson Theater
like buttons. And I want to press them.

Or the clouds, purple and pink, slowly drifting across
the sky, like an ocean where the sun reflects
and turns the water red. And I notice the
way my feet sound when they crunch on the gravel
and I wonder when I consented to be ruled by a watch.



The sunsets almost gone now, I can only just see the
colors as they are moving into shrinking violet and
deep dark blue.

Some guys come along and they’re loud
and suddenly the moment is gone.

I can see the street lights glowing
fluorescent orange and all I can hear
is the cars.

And my watch brings me back, sealing the moment
away forever. Because it’s 7:55 and now I
have to be at work.