Some People

(Coney Island Crowd, 1940, photograph by Weegee,
pseudonym of Arthur Fellig, 1899-1968, New York
City photographer)

“Outside of a dog,” Groucho Marx said, “a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”

SOME PEOPLE

Some people
ascend out of our life, some people
enter our life,
uninvited and sit down,
some people
calmly walk by, some people
give you a rose,
or buy you a new car,
some people
stand so close to you, some people,
you've entirely forgotten
some people, some people
are actually you,
some people
you've never seen at all, some people
eat asparagus, some people
are children,
some people climb up on the roof,
sit down at table,
lie around in hammocks, take walks with their red
umbrella,
some people look at you,
some people have never noticed you at all, some people
want to take your hand, some people
die during the night,
some people are other people, some people are you, some people
don't exist,
some people do.

~ Rolf Jacobsen (1907-1994), Norwegian poet