FOR TOM PUCHALSKY

In celebration of his 37 years at L-S

Farewell,  Grand Inquirer
             of the regional school district,
  believer in books, lover of
              literature, man of a
    thousand libraries, dealer in
         Dostoyevsky, purveyor of endless
pondering, shameless speculator
                    in eternal speculations,

  faithful don of the academy,
      your years at L-S-gone!
faculty meeting confusion you demolished with a few
            well-shaped words-gone!
times you reminded us of who we we-gone!
students whose names you could never remember- gone!
students who have never forgotten you-gone!
  With one foot firmly anchored
         
         in the 19th-Century,
 you move on to
             old books and new
                   students with the same
      wide eyes, back to

Worcester, back to
             Yasnaya Polya,
        back to St. Petersburg,

back to every night we can recall,
                      lying in bed, reading books,
    listening to the rain, as our
                          minds expand into
                                         
                                                 the Universe.

February 2, 2001

All written material © Bill Schechter, 2016
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