Manhattanville College - Tower Yearbook (Purchase, NY)

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There are a few words that defy definition. Friendship is one. It has no meaning, or it has a thousand. It has a language all its own, the only language not offered in any college course catalog. Even so, nothing we’ve learned in our years here is more important. Poor Impersonations Allow me to take your hat and wear it crooked, hiding my eyes, like you do. Let me take your shoes, and try to walk in your footsteps. They’re too big, they’ll flop, but no matter. I’ll waddle, Charlie Chaplin style. Stay still, I want to memorize your face. ’till I can frown your pain and smile your joy. Allow me to dance your dance, to sing your song. Let me listen ’till I get the beat right. It’s no use, I’ll never be you. Nonetheless, I like the outfit. Think back to the summers when you were small. Did you wear Osh-Kosh overalls? Did you wish on the stars? Remember? How you’d pick the brightest star, And screw your eyes tight shut, to trap the wishes in, so they couldn’t spill out and get lost. I remember those nights. There must have been a time when I wished with open eyes. ’Cause for a long time I stopped dreaming. Stopped looking for the stars. So many years of cloudy summer nights And then there you were, laughing. You might as well have been wearing Osh- Kosh overalls. ’Cause you gave it all back to me. Hide and seek, and lightning bugs. And I think I see a star to wish on shining somewhere in your eyes. Never a Stranger Take my soul in your hands If only for this moment. Your eyes speak of foreign lands. I’ll follow, if you show me the way. Sing my song in your heart. I know you, you’re my harmony. Don’t speak, just let the music start and the dream’ll live another day. Poems by Amie Stainken So go now, if you need to. You’ll never be a stranger. This song is me, alive in you. Sing soft, and I’ll be there. 6