ARIA VII: THE HARVARD MAN

I am a lucky number (after thirteen years

In the graduate school); Philosophiae Doctor

Making 65 (in '62) on the Western Reserve.

Can't ride this horse, can't shoot this gun

(It's the best horse, it's the best gun);

I only look the part. A dude, a dud

(I bought my duds at Brooks;

My saddlebags are full of books)

And parenthetical, pathetic, when The Badman

Draws (highhand) and The Cowboy fires,

I cringe, I crowd to the outhouse floor

(The townsfolk laugh —"What is knowledge for?")

I am over-learned, I know I know

(And knowing how to write, I write this down):

I must be there (aside) in Santa Fe

When The Badman draws and The Cowboy

Fires, for, without me, who could think?

(And the old world could never meet the new).