Love is in the Air

Away from school, I breathe the freed man’s air
Crisp yet gentle it enters soothing the aching mind
A mind now filled with poems and the wildest of tales,
Tales told by my peers sickened by cupid’s ailment.
I endured the gruesome sight by night, night upon night.
There in the dormitory my prefect groaned with the disease
I see it consume him on his bed as his candle flickers slightly
Pencil and parchment in hand he writes to his lover.

Toby’s bed to my right holds a lad who suffers worse still
The moonlight betrays him revealing his awful countenance
He Grins stupidly rosy cheeks pasted on his face.
I need no wisdom to know he dreams of his Lucy
Soft is his heart, jovial yet disturbing for I have lost a dear friend
Where football was our love now his Lucy has him in a lair.
Many are the casualties, gallant boys turned gentle as lambs
Love is in the air, and I loathe the stench of it. I must vomit!

A boy thirteen in years, great is the mischief in me.
Some rosy girl in a flowery pink dress will not tame me
Yet all my mates fall victim as they comb their hair neat
I could vow to never marry but then I do not know how to vow
Like a soldier betrayed by disloyal comrades I am
For they dine with the enemy, “Girls are weaklings”
Is the fallen motto now only hailed by a few
I’m glad to be home, where all surroundings are sane

But my mind still baffles me; its thoughts are in the classroom
I remember it clearly, Miss summers scribbled on the chalkboard
As she asked the next question. Wheeling around she saw
Just one hand up; the same student as before.
“Yes, Carol” she said and received the correct answer.
Smiling I acknowledged that Carol is a clever girl
But why now do I think on it, on how I continued to stare
How weak my knees felt each time I looked at her.
What means this feeling? Wait, I must vomit!