Moving Spaces, Changing Places

As the train rushes
Towards its destination
You begin to realize that
Nothing belongs to you forever;
Even the coziest place that
You’ve managed to create
By gently shifting your body
And arranging your bags
Exists in a temporary liaison.

Even if you make friends with strangers,
Exchange information about
Weather, music and people
They soon depart with a goodbye
Leaving an aching hollow behind;
You cannot ask for their names,
Or promise to contact them later,
They vanish drop by drop,
Step by step from your consciousness.

You reflect upon the protean condition
And soon realize that movement
Pushes desire into ever-changing shapes,
It leaves incomplete sentences,
Half-formed fantasies in its path.
Desire drips unceasingly
With its own evanescent sadness,
Its own inner cosmic spaces,
Its dissatisfying denouements.

August 2007, Tokyo



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