Rice Over My Shoulder

Rice Over My Shoulder (Introspection at an Intersection)

Driving south down Main Street past the fountain
Of youth, or rather, the truth of the young's
Fragile minds of privilege, I slow down, then
Stop when red lights freeze my heart and lungs.
My mind still wanders free outside those walls
Covered in leaves and vines and false pretense--
My once adopted School of thought recalls
Memories of their knowledge lacking sense.
Commonly held beliefs outside the fence
Extol the University esteemed,
But through drunken, sheltered, lost experience
I left the ivory prison unredeemed.
I wondered about the choice, undismayed--
Who would I have been if I had stayed?