Sonnet Written Out Of A Lifelong Envy For Romeo As Played By Leonard Whiting Poem by Hans Ostrom

A yellow bus hauled us to Sacramento—
A field-trip to Franco Ziffirelli’s film.
We were as young as Juliet and Romeo,
Three years too young for Johnson’s war in `Nam,
An ideal audience for R and J-
Infatuated with ourselves, that is to say;
Hormonally volcanic; raised on Coke™,
TV, and Rock. The news had not yet broke
That we were mortal and that Clearasil™
Could not salve every wound. Sex and death,
First crushes, crushing families—these filled
The screen. But soft! She took my breath
Away—Juliet. To this late day, you see,
I have a crush on Olivia Hussey.