I hadn’t encountered the word
mentor when you encircled me
with words that propelled me
to unthought-of heights

but in my mind
you were
suffocating me

and now I’m sad
that you’re gone
far from here

I cry still
even as I know
spilt milk
can’t be collected

I wish I hadn’t been naive
I wish I had known better

I admire you still
and in my mind’s eye
I see you scouting the shelves
or seated studiously
like a college boy
in the campus library

who would have thought
that this ordinary man here
studying like the rest of us
was a college professor
with a doctorate in the bag?

I admire you still, my Dr.
hoping our paths cross again
if Christ tarries