The Web: Reunion
by Albert Huffstickler
written on 12/13/77
This is how it is:
one part of you journeys forth
while the other stays at home to wait and keep things going.
And the years pass
with you (the waiter) going about your business
while you wonder how he is and what's happening to him
wandering through magic cities with turrets of ivory and gold
or wading a swamp-like sea through twisted trees
with voices clutching at him out of the darkness.
You feel his fear and his loneliness and his yearning
while you walk your days down, doing what's necessary,
stacking your sorrows like cordwood in the corner back of the stove
watching the years bloom and fade, bloom and fade
till memory fails and you begin to wonder
if there ever was another you at all.
Then, one day, the years heavy on you and your heart a mass of bruises,
the air starts to shimmer and a small voice whispers, "Guess who?"
You walk to the door and the whole sky is a rainbow
and you stand holding your heart with your hands to keep it from
exploding.
And somewhere deep inside you,
the wanderer opens his travelworn satchels and upends it
and a thousand gems cascade into the light.
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