Friday 27 April 2012

A world without strangers

Across the beach, amidst the crashing water
A hand is waving
I give a small wave in return

The figure jumps over a small tide pool
I do the same

Distance closes between us
We match stride for stride

Close, closer, the figure is a girl
She smiles, I smile

Stop.  My foot touches something hard
I look down
Her foot is touching mine
I look into her eyes
But my own eyes stare back

The mirror hidden in the sand emerges
The stranger fades away

4 comments:

  1. Wow...my interpretation is that this is symbolic of a person confronting (not neccesarily in an adversarial way) themselves? Or perhaps a person confronting their childhood self? Whatever the case...it's beautiful.

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    1. There are many possible interpretations I thought of when writing this. But after the ink settled I realized its true meaning. In this world of 7 billion strangers, if we comes to see ourselves in each other, then we will no longer be strangers, we will be family.

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  2. The best I can interpret is that the girl encounters herself. As she does, she understands herself, "the stranger fades away." The other person is herself, whom she knows.

    But, that is just a guess. I like the doubly enigmatic nature of this poem, first, the initial mystery regarding the object viewed, and the meaning of this piece.

    It's interesting that no emotions are expressed. The entire piece consists of observations. Which tells me much about the writer.

    You inspire me to take up poetry again. There was a phase when I wrote a lot.

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    1. I explained the meaning in Keith's comment, but really there is a beauty in poetry that allows the reader to take their own journey and that makes me happy!

      Yes, no emotions. Wow, I guess that does say a lot about me. I have a hard time letting those things flow. I am working on it though!! Your posts help with that :)

      Do it up Pablo, write away!!

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