Patterns & Colors

Patterns 

   I stood by the road and another car went by. But I had gotten this
far, I wasn't worried about that. I had hitched to Madison on a
whim or something, and found her there. But my journey to Madison 
seemed to affect her. Maybe she was looking for a way out, is all. 
I suppose it wasn't enough. 
   I knew this woman in college in St.Peter. I don't know what it was 
about her.
   Well, maybe I do. She had this funny litle twist in her smile that
emanated warmth. She was thoughtful. She didn't take as good of care
of herself as she should have- that kept me and this other guy that
cared about her on our toes, because she was extremely hypoglycemic. 
Its funny- we both wanted her, but I don't think we were jealous or 
competitive. We figured, it was up to her- maybe she'll choose one of
 us. She didn't choose either of us, but that was OK, too.

Colors 

   One time she and I took a walk down to the river. We sat and watched the 
currents. It was fall. I saw the patterns in the water, she saw the 
interplay of colors. It was a complementary relationship. I wonder how
life turned out for her. I take it on faith that she is often
melancholy, and at the same time still always appreciative of the 
beauty around her. 

Patterns

   She was finishing school there in Madison. She was so appreciative 
that I had thought enough of her to hitch there, and she cared enough
about me, that she thought twice about me, at least for a moment or 
two. 
   Versus the Danish man she had met and travelled the country with 
that summer. I passed through St. Peter on my way back, because a
trucker took me that way, by back roads, rather than up towards
Minneapolis via I-94.
   He was delivering dry ice to those unique little hamlets
across Wisconsin, and let me off in La Crosse. He had taken a detour 
to show me a farm where they raised the marvelous Clydesdales, that
stand so tall among horses. So there I was. I thought about visiting 
that tree near St.Peter, that stood out in a field. She sometimes slept
there, in a branch. I took it on faith. She wasn't one to let 
convention stand in her way. 
   She moved to Denmark after she graduated. It is a bittersweet
image I keep of her trying to carve a life for herself in Denmark. She
wrote to say she married him because she had to, in order to stay
there.

Colors

   She loved the place. She sent me a postcard of the chapel at
Elsinore, where Shakespeare had Hamlet live. It seemed appropriate.
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