Okay – so there’s this girl at the
Back of the class – and she’s always
Got her nose in the pages of a book –
I mean he’s never even seen her face,
That’s how much she’s literally ingrained
Herself into the damn things – and there’s
This boy at the front of the class – athletic, nice,
Popular, generically handsome – the son only
Every humble farmer wishes for when they have
Premarital sex with their neighbors daughter

And – right now you’re thinking you, me, and
Dupree know where this is going –
But let me stop you right there –
You don’t know crap.

Okay – so there’s this dance their little hick
School holds every year – the kind of dance they
Have at a motel with the drunken community
College guys leering at the edges of the vicinity,
Trying to catch onto some of their high school
Glory years – the boy, Anthony, is in line to get
Punch for his date – the girl, Daisy, is at home
And deeply engrossed in some Shakespeare
While heating up the bottle for the baby

And – then there was this meteor that passed
Over – it wasn’t anything particularly special or
Remarkable about it – just another hunk of rock
And ice skirting off the edge of the atmosphere –
But something must have been remarkable about
It because, suddenly, they’re both outside – he’s out
In his tattered Converses and rented tux, crunching on
Broken beer bottles and she’s out in her nightgown and
Pigtail braids, Shakespeare firmly in hand, and swimming
In the high grass – And they’re both chasing this silly, inert
Hunk of rock because it’s just so Goddamn remarkable – the
Most wonderful thing that’s ever happened to this damn town
Since the history of forever – this was going to be the thing that
Was going to define them – that was going to tell them what they
Were going to do for the rest of their allotted time on this miserable,
Spinning, blue marble

Okay – so after a buildup like that –
This whole thing has got to be some
Kind of wonderful – yeah?

No.

It passed by, slowly, silently – and they kept staring at the empty hollow
It left in their vision – hoping that the meaning of it all would just be
Suddenly exposed to them – but there was nothing – nothing at all.

Time passed. The boy and the girl never met,
They never learned some kind of life-altering
Message about the meaning of life, how could
They? It was just a hunk of rock – how could it
Know anything about life?

Nothing was learned and to nothingness returned.
Some apple that was, huh?