A Poem: Presence

If I meet you here,
where the boardwalk turns a corner,

may we not wonder
how to navigate the path
beyond the other.

But instead stop and smile,
turn to
clasp each other’s shoulders,

balance one another.

And when we have stepped
out from our brief encounter,
might we walk enlarged,

knowing we’ve not only accommodated
the other,
but aided each other’s passage here.

Each of us travelers in close proximity,
that if there is any wisdom
we take into tomorrow,

let it be

that we are to make room for one another,
giving as much space
as we would assert for ourselves,

prone as we are
to falling.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
December 2022