.....The Army sent me back to school at NYU, and that's where I met Bernie Benson. He became my best pal. A Jewish kid from Chicago: funny short, already balding, very homely and awkward. He wore thick glasses-- I can't imagine how he passed the eye test. He must have memorized the chart. Amazingly, as though endowed with a mysterious charm, he attracted the most beautiful and clever girls in New York. I see him walking on Fifth avenue at night, a girl on his arm. They are looking in darkened shop windows, laughing together.
.....He had a friend from Chicago, Vogel; a slicker, "wolf," wore dark shades, had his suntans fitted skin tight. Vogel watched Benson and his women, driven crazy with astonishment and envious chagrin.
.....At the end of the War I found Benson in a the Army hospital in Chicago, very sick with nephritis. He became a botanist, married one those beautiful, clever girls and went to work in Arizona. He sent me a monograph about a cactus he had discovered.
.....Vogel was killed in France.

The Mysterious Beauty of Benson

Benson was loved by many women
amazing those who knew him.
Mysterious and primordial was the beauty of Benson.

Of what is such beauty? A man should be tall, his form in nice proportion.
Benson was short, rotund, with drooping posture.
yet loved by many women.

Youthful; and if not young have youthful mien.
Of Benson's age, just say, his past is equal to his future.
Mysterious and primordial, the beauty of Benson.

His hair full, combed and dressed in tonsorial fashion.
Alas, for balding Benson-- long overdue-- a visit to his barber,
but loved by many women.

His attire stylish, crisp, fresh from the iron.
Benson rumpled with tie askew and curly collar.
Mysterious and primordial-- such was the beauty of Benson.

So long ago, a vision not forgotten
New York-- a girl on his arm, alluring and clever--they always were..
Loved by many women
Mysterious, primordial, the beauty of Benson.

.......................................................... Israel Lewis

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