"To My Twenties" -Kenneth Koch How lucky that I ran into you When everything was possible For my arms and legs, and with hope in my heart And so happy to see any woman-- O woman! O my twentieth year! Basking in you, you Oasis from both growing and decay Fantastic unheard of nine- or ten-year oasis A palm tree, hey! And then another And another--and water! I'm still very impressed by you. Whither, Midst falling decades, have you gone? Oh in what lucky fellow Unsure of himself, upset, and unemployable For the moment, in any case, do you live now? From my window I drop a nickel By mistake. With You I race down to get it But I find there on The street instead, a good friend, X---- N----, who says to me Kenneth do you have a minute? And I say yes! I am in my twenties! I have plenty of time! In you I marry, In you I first go to France; I make my best friends In you, and a few enemies. I Write a lot and am living all the time And thinking about living. I loved to frequent you After my teens and before my thirties. You three together in a bar I always preffered you because you were midmost Most lustrous apparently strongest Although now that I look back on you What part have you played? You never, never were stingy What you gave me you gave whole But as for telling Me how best to use it You weren't a genius at that. Twenties, my soul Is yours for the asking You know that, if you ever come back. free poems |