My future pharmacist has taken over the dinning table
With the help of three of his friends;
They have piled it with books and papers
Crossing it with questions, comments, and laughter.
Tomorrow they have to present a case study
And next Monday they sit their first exam of the year.
Stress runs high but this early in the semester,
Enthusiasm is just as high.
Pharmacy students studying
Tell the dirtiest jokes imaginable.
My job is to supply food and drink,
To be silent but present,
Barefoot, soft-spoken, and smiling in the background.
Sometimes I think I should become a geisha.
Her skills would acquit me well in these circumstances.
Tomas says I�m a slave,
Admiring my future pharmacist for his good fortune.
Dixie presumably thinks I am remarkably patient
And declares she would expect a �thank you� at the very least.
Robert suspects. He has watched me quietly since April,
Even questioning me about the belly chain occasionally visible.
He knows I�m no ordinary girlfriend but can�t quite put his finger on the difference.
I enjoy the hours they spend studying here,
Knowing that I am useful taking care of them in small ways.
Now is when I feel most comfortable,
Curled up in my place, out of the way but nearby should any need arise.
Even while studying Tomas glances my way occasionally, questions radiating
From every line and plane of his body. A few times I�ve been tempted
To just tell him I�m a slave and happy to be so
But I haven�t yet. It�s easier for everyone
To never tell the truth about some things.
The awkwardness comes when the books are put away
And the students want to be friendly with me.
I feel like telling tell them not to bother; that I�m content
Behind the scenes and behind my future pharmacist.
But I can�t say that, it would be too unconventional.
I�d like to find a uniform that would render me functionally invisible,
A costume like the maid�s uniform of years gone by
That made its wearer go unnoticed by proper gentlefolk
Taking tea in the formal parlor. Like her, I pour the tea
And open the curtains, performing my functions
As unobtrusively as possible, in every way
Striving to be the perfect study slave.
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All work � Shulasmith Smith, 2004, unless otherwise noted.