A day like any other

Escultura de Lorien Stern

Such insignificance: a glance


at your record on the doctor's desk


or a letter not meant for you.


How could you have known? It's not true


that your life passes before you


in rapid motion, but your watch


suddenly ticks like an amplified heart,


the hands freezing against a white


that is a judgment. Otherwise nothing.

The face in the mirror is still yours.

Two men pass on the sidewalk


and do not stare at your window.


Your room is silent, the plants


locked inside their mysterious lives


as always. The queen-of-the-night


refuses to bloom, does not

accept
 your definition. It makes no sense,

your scanning the street for a traffic snarl,


a new crack in the pavement,


a flag at half-mast -- signs


of some disturbance in the world


because your friend, the morning sun,


has turned its dark side toward you.

Lisel Mueller