Gordon Hilgers: My True Love Responds to What She Knows

Given I did not know
some traveling stranger,
how was I to understand
what a nod may mean?
So much of this us we hold
is lost in unfamiliarity,
for like two bound pages,
verso and recto, we reside
in a book bigger than we
can imagine. If I desire
to know more completely,
I ask questions, hoping
I receive respect. If not,
I cannot further claim
I know anything at all
about you. So much
left to guesswork, this
or that, a world seen
through another’s eyes,
or heard from differing
ears. Even scents
may differ slightly, yet
should I choose to be
responsive to the world,
the world too must be
choosing in kind. This
matter of estrangement
means a nod will mean
nothing until we learn,
one from another, how
silence can kill, or words
can bring forth all
we have left, a gift
we give, sometimes
even one good kiss.

—

Copyright 2016 Gordon Hilgers