Anam Cara

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

Sometimes you see us

Run into each other in a place

Where we cannot simply pass,

Say at a party, and you overhear

Our breath quiveringly collect

To shape a voice sure enough

To play out some pleasantry;

Something humorous is preferable,

It covers perfectly and shows

That everything is as it should be.

As smoothly as possible

We allow ourselves to be waylaid

By some other conversation and escape.

Though we move around the room,

We always know where we stand,

Still strangely bound to each other

In this intermittent dance

Between the music, each careful

To hold up the other side of all

We were to each other before

It stopped, and let nothing slip

From the invisible ruin

We carry between us.