You Made Me Love You

I was twenty,
 you were nineteen,
  that day along the mall

When I heard a guitar
  from deep inside,
  that round auditorium hall

Up on stage with legends,
  Son House, Muddy,
  Johnny Winter too

A red haired, freckle faced,
  blue eyed girl
  commenced to sing the blues

You started with an apology,
  saying you were outclassed
  and over matched

But once that voice
  left your heart and flew
   ….in nothing did you lack

I followed you out
  that afternoon,
  in the late State College Fall

And after fifty years of looking back,
 every moment
  I recall

I walked you to the bus
  as you said:
  “We're in Harrisburg tonight

“Why don't you come,
   it might be fun,
   from there I catch a flight”

The bus was full,
  my eyes looked south
  as I hitchhiked down #322

Fate unexplained,
  life forever changed
   -that special gift from you

(Villanova Pennsylvania: Looking Back- March, 2018)