Tuesday, February 17, 2004

.
Stranger
Stranger, do not come one step nearer
Do not reach out towards me
Stranger
We must not touch our hands
To join your loneliness and mine

Abide by the regulation:
No man shall approach a man
No woman shall approach a woman
Nor man, woman, nor woman, man
Our life depends on it

You wear a red scarf
I wear a blue cap
There can be nothing between us

If you ask me the time, I must turn my wrist
If I ask you the way, you must point

The rules hang from every lamppost
Above the basket of geraniums
They are nailed into the telephone poles
Though we scream to break the silence
Who would conjecture the universality of his sorrow
Who would confess at the streetcorner

Stranger, at the time of fire
You will pass through the smoke to save me
Stranger, at the time of flood
I will lift you from the water
At the time of the invader
We will gather together

Guard us from our intimacy
Now, as we stand adjacent on the endless belt
Conveying us into the future
Which, like the ancients’ heaven
Will justify the disaster of the hour
- Peter Goblen

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