Days Gone By

You’re gone but you’re on my mind

“Of cloudless climes and starry skies”

Lord Byron on repeat in this heady

classroom, an English lecture ready

to both challenge me and keep my

flow of knowledge steady

Shakespeare, Keats, you name it

You were in all those classes

You knew all the answers

I could never read Anna Karenina

in Russian, but you had the gumption

I remember reviewing White Teeth

by Zadie Smith in a small group setting

I was late, our TA smiled and I

sat down, unaware of anything

until your voice spoke the literature like a melody

We were reading Heart of Darkness

and when you analysed

the theme of colonization

I was inspired by your interpretation

the meat of English literature

You’re gone but you’re on my mind

when I re-read Byron

“and all that’s best of dark and bright”

I remembered your insight

I hope you are doing alright