Poem for May

Impossible Friendships

For example, with someone who no longer is,

who exists only in yellowed letters.

Or long walks beside a stream,

whose depths hold hidden

porcelain cups – and the talks about philosophy

with a timid student or the postman.

A passerby with proud eyes

whom you’ll never know.

Friendship with this world, ever more perfect

(if not for the salty smell of blood).

The old man sipping coffee

in St. Lazare, who reminds you of someone.

Faces flashing by

in local trains –

the happy faces of travellers headed perhaps

for a splendid ball, or a beheading.

And friendship with yourself

– since after all you don’t know who you are.

Adam Zagajewski (1945 – 2021)

Adam Zagajewski: Eternal Enemies (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2008) translated by Clare Cavanagh.

And isn’t it that final truth that makes actual friendship possible? Not just possible but joyous, consoling, and sometimes exceedingly tricky?

Feature image credit Nick Fewings Unsplash

Poems for April