Sentimental Education

　　by Mary Ruefle

　　 Ann Galbraith

　　 loves Barry Soyers.

　　 Please pray for Lucius Fenn

　　 who suffers greatly whilst shaking hands.

　　 Bonny Polton

　　 loves a pug named Cowl.

　　 Please pray for Olina Korsk

　　 who holds the record for missing fingers.

　　 Leon Bendrix loves Odelia Jonson

　　 who loves Kurt who loves Carlos who loves Paul.

　　 Please pray for Cortland Filby

　　 who handles a dead wasp， a conceit for his mother.

　　 Harold loves looking at Londa's hair under the microscope.

　　 Londa loves plaiting the mane of her pony.

　　 Please pray for Fancy Dancer

　　 who is troubled by the vibrissa in his nostrils.

　　 Nadine St. Clair loves Ogden Smythe

　　 who loves blowing his nose on postage stamps.

　　 Please pray for William Shakespeare

　　 who does not know how much we love him， miss him and think of him.

　　 Yukiko Pearl loves the little bits of toffee

　　 that fall to the floor when Jeffrey is done with his snack.

　　 Please pray for the florist Marieko

　　 who wraps roses in a paper cone then punches the wrong code.

　　 Muriel Frame loves retelling the incident

　　 that happened on the afternoon of November third.

　　 Please pray for our teacher Ursula Twombly

　　 who does not know the half of it.

　　 By the radiator in a wooden chair

　　 wearing woolen stockings sits a little girl

　　 in a dunce's cap， a paper cone rolled to a point

　　 and inverted on her hair； she's got her hands

　　 in her lap and her head bowed down， her chin

　　 is trembling with having been singled out like this

　　 and she is sincere in her fervent wish to die.

　　 Take it away and give it to the Tartars

　　 who roll gloriously into battle.

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