Billy Collins Quote

You, ReaderI wonder how you are going to feelwhen you find outthat I wrote this instead of you, that it was I who got up earlyto sit in the itchenand mention with a penthe rain-soaked windows,the ivy wallpaper,and the goldfish circling in its bowl.Go ahead and turn aside,bite your lip and tear out the page,but, listen– it was just a matter of timebefore one of us happenedto notice the unlit candlesand the clock humming on the wall.Plus, nothing happened that morning–a song on the radio,a car whistling along the road outside–and I was only thinkingabout the shakers of salt and pepperthat were standing side by side on a place mat.I wondered if they had become friendsafter all these yearsor if they were still strangers to one anotherlike you and Iwho manage to be known and unknownto each other at the same time–me at this table with a bowl of pears,you leaning in a doorway somewherenear some blue hydrageas, reading this.