Together, Unawares
J. Marshall Jenkins
Go to a crowded place, say,
an airport terminal,
a stadium at game time, or
a shopping mall in December.
Let the cacophony gather,
rise like smoke, and leave your
one heart beating with others,
your eyes among matchless
faces that could return
your tender gaze but likely
will not disturb your solitude.
Every head generates and files
memories and dreams
like no computer can.
Every heart perseveres
after breaking, whether that
of a child missing a lost toy
or an invisible brown woman
remembering a lost country
as she pushes a broom. At least
one hundred billion stars
populate the Milky Way,
waltzing through cold silence,
interrupted only, perhaps,
by the clamorous cloud
you released like a balloon.
Yet, what a small wonder
compared to teeming dreams
and epic tales lived and
anticipated, pilgrim souls
gathered with secret longings
for home, for welcome,
for a face they seek
together, unawares.
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Photo by Craig Whitehead on Unsplash
Thank you Marshall for another powerful and beautiful poem.
Thank you for the encouragement, Cinda!