You and i

We do not know each other,
You and i.
We have not met.

Still, the edges of knowledge
Suggest our intimate connection,
Hint at our deep relationship:
An understanding beyond words.

There is a picture of you in my head
Formed by your name
And your thoughts.

i track the blue underline
Of your visits
To the place where you
Stake your claim
Make yourself known

And the picture becomes
Clearer --
Or does it?

O, Most imperfect
Of intimacies,
Most deceitful
Of truths,

Words.

And yet,
We are bound:
Bound to know
And to recognize
One another,
Even as we are
Restrained by the bonds of
Blind language.

(There is no victory
So hollow
Or so brief
As winning an argument,

No triumph so misleading
Nor one that weds
Victor to vanquished
Like victory in war.)

We meet in language
But know each other in silence.
We meet where we cannot touch,
But come from the same flesh,
Bones from the same constellation,
Flesh from one ancestor.

That this miracle goes unheeded
Is all that stands between
Us.

--Mr. Gobley