third and second, a poem

they've a trajectory / and you've no merit

they're synchronized swimmers / and you're barely afloat

they speak with eloquence / and you're a parrot

they know the answer / and you don't

there's them / and there's you

they see your mismatch / yet you don't

their cameras don't lie / it's all over your face

they will develop / yet you won't

a fleshèd future / a feckless fate

there's them / and there's you

what is your intent?

will you lament?

will you claw the incongruity away?

or will you remain?

there's them / and there's you

perhaps they like your else-hood

are they genuine? or are they comical?

they know you better than you know yourself

you'll learn to be almost tolerable

there's them / and there's you

you aren't them, that much is true

as much as you want it, you cannot fuse

a dance of yin and yang, your steps shalt improve

it matters not your choice of shoes.

there's them, and there's you.

beside one another.

Valerie Gitlow

270125