ON  READING  SHAKESPEARE 

ON HIS WAY HOME FROM WORK

He struck out three times

in the State Championship game -

some 27 years ago….

He took up the harmonica at age 8,

the trombone at 10 and the guitar at

13  - and never lasted at any one of

them for more than a month ….

The first girl he really fell in love with

dropped him for another guy - and it

ruined the second half of his senior year

of high school even though every girl

in the school paused as he walked

into the cafeteria at lunchtime ….

He went to two different colleges and one

community college - but never finished

any one of them …. even though ….

He lost  two jobs. He was cut. They kept

others but didn’t keep him. So sometimes

bus rides home from a job he didn’t like were

tough - and he wasn’t getting any younger ….

He put on weight ….

Yet that dark night - in an aisle seat -

with a dim small light overhead - on a 
cold commuter bus - which was 
crawling along because of a winter 
accident just ahead on the road - 
he was picturing his wife and 
his four kids at home - waiting for him -

especially his youngest daughter - and he

laughed semi-out loud while others growled

out loud…. Now he knew first hand the

meaning of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 2 …. And 
he started reading his book again - thinking,
"Now let me see what Sonnet 3 is getting at ...."

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2012