Wake Forest Magazine, December 2004 - Past Issues - Wake Forest ...

The Springtime of My Life
By Horace L. Bennett (’50)
There is a campus with the warmth of a morning’s
Sunshine;
It is a dear place, with venerable brick walkways, and
Ivy-covered buildings
That I shall forever claim with great
Devotion.
This day I stand near the Old Well and glimpse
A rocky wall, waist high, all covered
With greening ivy, and face
A full quadrant of stately magnolias, heavy-laden,
With snowy-white and velvet flowers;
I breathe my fill of fragrant gardenias.
Eastward is the brick and plastered chapel
Where thrice a week inspiring speeches,
Read by renowned scholars of Greek,
And Latin, and philosophy,
Pierced our numb and callous ears.
See yonder bell-tower? I tolled its bell thrice before
I placed the mortar-board upon my brow,
Then wept in the solitude of my room.
All other quadrants I faced with singleness of purpose:
I see their faces! I know them, all!
Each one I greet by name!
Today, I know but few who near me stand!
Their hearts and eyes are full, like my own.
The thoughts of Wake have twined my heart
In simple memories, long dormant…
It is the season of the year between winter and summer;
It is a morning blessed with happiness
Of health and fidelity:
It is a day I shall cherish the rest of my life!
Today, beneath the magnolias,
I shall savor the springtime of my life once more,
When I was twenty-three.
C O N S T A N T & T R U E
www.wfu.edu/alumni DECEMBER 2004 45