A Day And More In The Life Of A Cornell Student Poem by Bri Edwards

A Day And More In The Life Of A Cornell Student


Blood was dripping from the knife as he pulled it from his chest.
It was his own chest he pulled it from. He did not 'chicken out'
like 'the Rest'....did.
The rest were his fraternity 'Brothers', gathered 'round their fire in
a cemetery.
Some 'brothers' stayed home, Halloween Eve. Did they think it scary?
'Scary' to join the others? Or were they just far more wary?

'Wary' that they might, by Cornell, be for 1 semester suspended? ?
Told to 'postpone half your Senior year' would've, their plans, upended,
'Upended', meaning seriously compromised, some with future jobs....
'at stake' **, OR...
both parents telling them: 'Sorry, son, you made one colossal mistake! ! ! '

At least 'the knife' had not penetrated any organs nor severed any muscle
or vessel.
'Playing' with knives was far less nasty (this time) than jumping off of...
a train trestle ***
And there would be other jobs and [ Maybe ] 'they' would forgive him,
'they' being 'Mom' and 'Dad'.
He felt MORE uneasy about how his college girl friend would react;
would she say to him: 'Goodbye, Tad.'?


Some surgical sutures in muscle and skin fixed him up, with a 3-day
hospital stay.
And a doctor's order (one of them) was 'As far as your tennis playing,
I strongly say 'No Way! ! '.

Tad's parents, both Cornell 'grads' and wealthy Cornell supporters, met
with the University's President and.....
after that Fall Semester was ended, back to classes the 'Lucky Tad' went.

But he had to agree to counseling and he was banned from any fraternity
associations.

He also found that students AND faculty steered away from him, AND
that his girl friend, Sally, said: 'The chance of us marrying is VERY slim.'


Hic finis est


(late October 2024)

Bri Edwards
aka
Brian Edward Whitaker
(in The Other World, previously called The Real World)


**
at stake
to be won or lost; at risk.


***
trestle
A trestle bridge is a bridge composed of a number of
short spans supported by closely spaced frames.