"Ode to San Jose State"

~  Ode to San Jose State  ~

Those were the good days
And now, through vines of grapes
In vineyards of memory
Walks Edwin Markham,
His plaque upon the Morris Daily
Beneath the Tower Hall.

As each annum’s embrace
Of flushed and fresh the face
Of keen, unbridled youth
Gathers within
Alma Mater’s opened arms
In the wine colored fall.

For the Valley of Heart’s Delight
Held San Jose's University
In cupped and terraced orchards,
Encircling each morrow’s
Sun goldened trove
Of student body dream and harvest.

And as the old Student Union
Played "Bobby McGee"
It set our passions free,
For you see, we were students
At a dreamer’s university

And the voice of Irene Dalis
From the Music Building
Through the rows of ancient Pepper Tree,
Gave our spirit wings and song
From a wishing well of eternity.

And for sixty dollars the semester
We were Spartans and held chant
As Krazy George’s drum
Ripple-danced the gridiron
Tho we said: "No war!" -
Better to run the pigskin
To a nobler score.

 

And our runners were fast!
Evans to Carlos to Smith -
They carried the mast to Olympia
From Speed City to Freedom’s call,
"Run man run!"
Said legs in rhythms
Of justice for all -

Tho track is no more
Bud Winter’s men
For centuries to come
Will sprint for gold
In Valhalla’s hall.

The kaleidoscope and divine madness
Of the Art Building of the Sixties -
Its genius drew us in
To sculpt and weld and paint
From mystic gene pools
Of nascent creativity -
Student mariners on oceans of color
Riding high on visions
From the palette’s swash.

And yet now,
It is the changing colors
Of cooling grape leaves in Autumn,

From deep green to orange bright
To the purples and dark crimsons of red,
That is memory’s steady call.
For it is from this season of my life
I tip nostalgia’s cap to all,

For they were the good days
And we, were the students
Of San Jose State, in the Fall.