Delphi

by Yuko Otomo

Outside the window
two men struggle
with a long red ladder

— A Horizon—

I sit facing your face
facing me
as you sit

We are at a generic city restaurant’s dinner table

Out of remote curiosity
we keep moving our heads
to see what’s happening
outside the window

Under two men’s shoes,
the wet pavement shines with a sparse euphoria,
something similar to humility
of an aging playwright
who savors his solitary meal
sitting next to the cash resister
in an almost empty Sunday evening restaurant

Imagining a hill
where the sky opens to Eternity,
we squeeze lemon into our soup

It is strange
to think that
no one can truly be

alone

living