The Loveless Arms

A Poem by Paris Hlad

(A Context for the Poem)

Inspired by the Recollection of a Boy Who Was

Verbally Abused in a British Literature Class

And Was That Winter Pronounced DOA

At the Orange County Trauma Center.

--

Occasionally, a student dies.

It is a reality that most teachers face.

I once had twin sisters in a senior English class who excelled in the study of Hamlet. They were bright, attractive, and replete with the special ambitions of youth. One evening, the firstborn committed suicide in the family garage. No one seemed to know why �" But her sister said that she was an extreme perfectionist who solved problems as they came up.

No exceptions!

And no pointless delays!

-----

The young walker in the poem that follows was a charming but super-unhappy kid who seemed overwhelmed by the cacophony of physical existence. The last time I saw him in British literature class, I reprimanded him for giggling during my lecture. He said that he was giggling because he thought that I was funny. That evening, the boy was killed in a freak accident on a local highway. The poem derives from my having noticed him walking home in a snowstorm earlier that winter. His name was Mike.

The Loveless Arms

(Or The Frigid Heart of Earth)

The street lights hang like loveless arms along the avenue

And you would flee their cold embrace, as you have life to do

For you are like a blade of ice

That cuts into the night

And splits the frigid

Heart of Earth

Like some unholy rite

Your steps fly out into the void but groan beneath your feet,

And snowflakes fly about your face and mock your sad retreat

Your bitter, slighted egress goes