polonaise

1 p.m.

a cafe above a bookstore

what are we to do about this longing?

no- I see it in you also; do not tell me otherwise

if gone, then youth has gone with it

and you are too beautiful

to leave youth yet

you- yes you- girl whom i never meet

do not hide your longing from me,

there is no beauty in the neat

and when we wonder

and wander by each other

and wonder whether in time

each other we will meet,

let us next time wander by each other

and look up from the concrete

we do not know we do not know

what must stay, what should go

we do not know we do not know

awaiting, awaiting, awaiting,

alone

dear stranger, of the bookstore cafe

i would tell you in a whisper,

i recognise your face

i know your longing

i heard it in a polonaise

beloved stranger- i’m told from Lithuania

no- but not a stranger;

not a stranger, not a stranger

because

we have known each other

we know each other still

i know you from your Tuesday smile

when you handed me the bill.