time derivative

total internal reflection

6/2/2024

in the mirror-room you stand, 
back to me, a few meters away, 
where reflections dissolve
soap bubbles into sea green. 

and I turn, and you turn with me.
dark eyes meet dark eyes 
and we blink in unison. 

oh. for a moment, I thought
you were someone else.

and maybe, I understand
what an astronaut sees in orbit
when they look backwards 
at the earth.

if you are a stranger to me,
I can treat you as such. 
I will no longer flirt 
with oblivion, I will not conspire 
to cast us both into the void. 
I will try not to resent 
that I do not know you. 

maybe I can come to enjoy 
the long and thankless work
of learning you, of putting a name
to both our faces. we don’t 
have much time together, after all. 

oh yes. let’s survive forever,
you and I.