stunning image by cybartex at graphicriver.net
"Year after year," I told him,
"I walked mile after mile,
hour after hour,
looking in
every window,
dreaming of the lives within.
In one lit window,
in late evening,"
I remembered,
"a woman looked up
from her book, smiling,
as a man handed her
a cup of tea.
"So many years spent,
walking and looking,
in search of Love,
in search of Home.
Always outside,
looking in."
"And now
you're inside,
looking out,"
he told me, sadly.
And it was true.
Posted for Mary's Mixed Bag at Real Toads
I was right there in these moments you gathered, Sherry...the emotion and the contrast of inside/outside works so very well. Gorgeous thoughts, truly.
ReplyDeleteAH, yes, I too have looked in while walking, while driving. SOmetimes I feel like the man in "The Pedestrian" and expect arrest, sometimes I think of my own position inside, with few windows for people to see in. As poets, I think we switch positions often. In your poem, the man's sadness is sweet, the narrator's new position is magical. Love it.
ReplyDeleteWalking at dusk ... in every city I've lived in ~ fascinating the peeks into everyday lives of everyday people! I love this, Sherry.
ReplyDeleteI am going to email you a photo I snapped last year .. kind of funny.
You built this whole idea up so cleverly and executed a skillful twist at the end. Very well done, Sherry.
ReplyDeleteSherry, your poem made me think about the difference between being outside and looking in and being inside looking out. So oftentimes, it seems, when we look through a window we might think the grass is greener there? Though realistically it might not be....but we can't help wonder, can we?
ReplyDeleteSo many times now though it is hard to look 'in' homes, as they draw their curtains when the sun goes down......not so when I was a kid, or when you were, I am sure.
much to ponder and to resonate with
ReplyDeleteAloha
from Honolulu,
Comfort Spiral
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This made me ponder Sherry on the perspective of looking in and outside the window ~ Very nice ~
ReplyDeleteThere are compensations for both states - outsider and insider. I too like to look in as I walk past a lit window, feeling slightly ashamed of my curiosity!
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot in this Sherry and I read it a couple of times to try and grasp it all. We don't have curtains on our windows except the bedrooms but few walk by to look in. I loved looking in windows when we lived in a Dutch city--all the lives seemed interesting to me as a foreign visitor. The windows were right on the sidewalk. Your poem reminded me of the walks I took there each evening.
ReplyDeleteOh I like the little tinge of irony at the end. Nice.
ReplyDeleteI have been fascinated about the glimpses I have seen through a lighted window. I remember being a child wishing for the peace I saw inside. Such a beautiful poem Sherry.
ReplyDeleteAll about a change of perspective, I think...
ReplyDeleteargh, that little twist at the end got me. ouch.
ReplyDeleteI read this before, and thought I had commented.
ReplyDeleteObviously, I hadn't.
This is well done, Sherry, so much sadness and then, when I was expecting a reprieve, more sadness.
Is there a right side to a window? To a wall or a fence? I wonder.
K