We were so 19
that the world didn’t care if we slept
half the day, went to coffee with the professor
instead of class, and began the evening
just before midnight. The usual crowd
could be counted on to greet us warmly,
as we scrambled off the city sidewalks
swallowed by our college life. Beer, and
conversation, and the same familiar songs,
and we hugged and laughed and knew
19 would always be. But it’s not.
Someone else is borrowing 19 now.