ISSUE: Spring 1983
after a line by Montale
There are those who live
in the time that’s touched them.
They stay shocked
by a death or a kiss
and they won’t walk away,
won’t speak from the heart,
or stand too long near anyone.
Love took them by surprise
although they circled first
like beasts before a fight.
The world saw two people
going into one door.
Soon one wouldn’t open
that door to the other.
Yet the icy smirker can’t sleep
and there’s a hush
inside the one who still loves
as inside a room
when someone’s expected.
Strange, what makes them shudder,
afraid to cry, pick up the phone
or just walk outside.
One evening an old photo
from an album
stuns unnaturally hard
and there is no darkness
when they close their eyes.
