HISTORY OF ART BY H.W. JANSON

There is great beauty in the world
we all know this to be true
there is great love in the world
sometimes we're not so sure about this

Love at first sight exists and don't let
anyone tell you otherwise for they are wrong
perhaps jealous because they have not
yet experienced it for themselves

How could I know that seeing her
right ear - her ear! - would prove to me
that love at first sight was for real
and forever unfading undaunted unmatched

She was one seat in from the aisle
and to this day I wonder where did I get
the nerve to ask her: "Is this one free?"
and sat down right next to my destiny

In love for the rest of my life
though I wouldn't get the chance
to demonstrate that love for twenty years
you read that right: twenty years

She had skin like milk and small features
her face contained more beauty than I had
ever before beheld in one visage
the way she took notes slew me

The lecturer held great promise
for a life-changing class of all the world's art
shown in full-color slides from fertility idols
to the geniuses of the present day

But the real life change came for me
two days later when class met again
and she was sitting in the same seat
and I sat next to her beautiful ear again