You

Elegy for a Sophomore Undergraduate Having Pulled Her First All-Nighter

I first came upon You when You were but a freshman

The light shone in Your eyes

You asked me

Questions about

Architecture I answered questions about architecture

And yet now I see You

Dull and lifeless, keeled over Your

Mayline

An empty coffee cup dribbling on Your shoes

O For You there will be no more crying

No more pin ups or quick naps on the carpet in the pit

Never more will

You see the sun rise over the grisly grey of the balcony

A wrapper from the vending machine clenched tightly in Your sweaty fingers

When

They ask me where You have gone

What shall I say — ?

That You have slipped between the cracks of this, our treacherous existence?

That You have stumbled and dropped off this mortal plane?

Shall I lament Your passing, carve Your name into the still and cold walls of our shared tomb?

No– I shall say of You only

She dropped the major