The woman who sweeps and
mops my mother's hospital room
floor is very sad.
So sad, she perhaps does not know
how audibly she sighs.
And why is she so sad?
I can not ask her,
As a rule, you don't ask strangers
why they are so sad.
Is she lonely?
Sad and lonely?
Or am I projecting feelings
I do not want to acknowledge
as I sit in my mother's hospital room?
But I am neither sad nor lonely.
Not since you came into my life.
But that is romantic nonsense,
isn't it?
As an existentialist I know
all of us are alone.
But I imagine my dying now
and your company
keeping me from feeling
Sad or lonely.
But if I am alone?
If I am the one
who kept you company instead-
Will I be sad and lonely
or eager to be reunited?
I indulge in romantic nonsense-
You more than anyone
know that about me.
Still,
the mopping woman of audible sighs
seems sad and lonely.
