People at Night

A night that cuts between you and youand you   and you   and youand me : jostles us apart, a man elbowingthrough a crowd.          We won't                    look for each other, either-wander off, each alone, not lookingin the slow crowd.

Among sideshows                    under movie signs,                    pictures made of a million lights,                    giants that move and again move                    again, above a cloud of thick smells,                    franks, roasted nutmeats-Or going up to some apartment, yours                    or yours, findingsomeone sitting in the dark:who is it really?

So you switch the light on to see: you know the name butwho is it ?          But you won't see.

The fluorescent light flickers sullenly, apause.

But you command.

It grabseach face and holds it upby the hair for you, mask after mask.                    You   and   you and I   repeat                    gestures that make do when speech                    has failed          and talk                    and talk, laughing, saying                    'I', and 'I',meaning 'Anybody'.                              No one.