Sulferin

We all live in two worlds -
One that encompasses us all,
and one that draws close around you alone.

Sunny day and breath of spring,
i walk to work on the play of the breeze.
Across this street, workers wait.
Their job is there,
but it's just around the corner of time,
waiting on the words of the preacher.
They lean with their elbows, chat with their mouths.
Time ticks by.
Life takes a pleasant pause.

Over the hedges and past the rows of graves,
The day is darker.
Mourners pay their respects,
Friends weep.
Here there is no work or play.
Life pauses, but not pleasantly.
It stretches out the minutes to hours,
While the world howls inside their heads.
Dreams collapse and die.
They draw close to one another,
and listen to their private mourning horn.
Outside, we watch in silence and sun.

The crowded circle disperses
and the center of our attention drifts away.
The workers take their place
and lower the casket.
I move on,
off down the road, off to continue my life.
The sun still shines on my back.

There was little to separate us from those mourners -
a hedge, a fence -
but there are no two worlds farther apart than ours.
Strange that we live in two worlds.
Strange that your world can be so far from mine,
Even on a sunny day.

I guess life is a dance of worlds.
Sometimes you mingle with the dancehall crowd.
Sometimes it's you and your partner alone.
And sometimes you sit in the corner,
look out the window,
and hope the song ends soon.