366
JONATHAN STRONG
street and never known them to ask something as personal as that
right away. I was glad he had asked it, so I decided to tell him the
truth, which I usually avoid on the subject of boredom and loneli–
ness, and I said yes. From then on I felt I was friends with Supper–
burger.
Sitting by the window here and looking around the room I like
to imagine the house is mine, or maybe my father's. Of course I
would rearrange it exactly my way, but the feeling would be mostly
the same. I like the bookshelves being full. The shelf right next to
me has books by men I have never heard of: Dowson, Swinburne,
Henley, but of course I have heard of Kipling and there is a big set
of his books, and I know about Wilde. Rossetti sounds like he would
be Italian, but he is not because I took one volume out. I am Italian,
or at least I am on one side. The other side is mostly Irish. They
wonder where I get my blond hair. I just took down one of the
Swinburnes, and one poem called "The Triumph of Time"
is
all
underlined in red, by Supperburger I suppose. I like it, but it
is
sad.
Before our lives divide forever,
While time is with us and hands are free
(Time, swift to fasten and swift too sever
Hand from hand, as we stand by the sea),
I will say no word that a man might say
Whose whole life's love goes down in a day;
For this could nc<ver have been, and never-
Though the gods and the years relent-shall be.
I used to write poems in school, but I have not since I left. I went
to the best high school in the city, even though I did not live near
it, because I was good in school. My father sent the extra money
because it cost a little, but then he decided he would not send me
any for college. I do not mind because, as I said, I usually do not like
college kids. I am supposed to have a job, actually, but my father
does send me some money and I get a lot of free meals, so I
will
not have to work for a while. He does not live in this part of the
city and never comes here, so he does not know what I am doing.
He came to my graduation last June, but he had to stay inconspicuous,
he said. He
is
the Italian side. That
is
where I get a name like
Polo, though it
is
no relation to Marco Polo as far as I know.
