The Future

It must have a reason for concealing
Its many surprises from us,
And that reason must have something to do
With either compassion or malice.

I know that most of us fear it,
And that surely is the explanation
We've never been properly introduced,
Though we are neighbors

Who run into each other often
By accident and then stand there
Speechless and embarrassed,
Before pretending to be distracted

By a pigeon on the sidewalk,
Or some children walking to school
Past the hearse filled with flowers
Parked in front of a small, gray church.

Copyright © 2009 Charles Simic All rights reserved
from Harvard Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission