Living Together
Duo Duo

They shall encounter three intentions of life out on the
     street corner:
Embers in an old man's pipe, children's scrawl
    scribbled on a wall
And the wet legs of women walking in the rain . . .

They lingered an entire night
Looking for signs around a small white house
The sun had risen, yet still they could not decide on
    their destiny
That was when the mistake occurred
Without any prayer
They slept together in one bed
And regardless of the cruel shining
Of the daylight outdoors at a later time
So that they could fall asleep with a touching smile on
    their faces
As if deceased
Not bothering to recall
Even the most tender of things
They had already risen up and crossed the street
Entering straight into
The doorway of that building with no signs
They hence disappeared
Exactly as predicted by
Mother on her deathed
In fact, deep in their hearts
They had always been looking for
A chance to insert that past episode
Had always been conversing in a coded language
It's like the mood on a snowy day
Returning from the fog with light and soft steps
Peeling and feeding the patient tangerines
The flowers in that greenhouse
Through the violet frosty mist
Must have left them with an unforgettable impression
And set ablaze
Their sentiments
So let them
Faint briefly for another moment
— Go
Give them a beat
But don't let them notice
Don't let their window of living together
Darken hereafter
Don't let them ever lose
That impressionistic power to look far into the open
    wilderness

As they walked toward the middle of the street at dawn
They saw life. Life
Was that street sweeper who stopped his work
Looking at them approaching
He was wearing a blue working uniform
With a pipe dangling from his mouth, standing in the     morning —

1976