The Pronouncement

I see her every morning
Sitting by the window
The light washing her as a Polaroid still in my memory
I have the feeling she needs to talk
But instead she blends into the whitewash
Avoiding, I walk by her consumed with my own thoughts
Did I turn off the coffee maker?
Where will I go for lunch?
I hope I can slip into my desk unnoticed
But deep down I am avoiding myself

She drives past them Monday to Friday
Huddled like an exotic panic of geese
Their long necks and brown skin
Their dark hair and glassy eyes
They look alone
Cloistered in a cultural prison
Tolerating the uniformity but longing for an escape
She wishes she could sit among them
A beige princess
And offer them a bauble from her kingdom

Every day he joins them
He does it because he should
They laugh and share news worthy clippings of their lives
For him it’s a ritual toe testing of the water
A casual stroll amidst the kiddie pool of social exchanges
Like every day before, he feels an intruder to their party

The dichotomy of us and they is a tiresome thing
For I am always standing just outside the ring
It is a construct of the mind
Embraced by all mankind
Move the boundary stone
I , you, he, she, we, them are just flesh and bone
Longing to be known