The Other

The rich and the poor are always with us.
The one and its doppelganger born
of the same parents
interest
usury
an unsure foot in the world.

Fate travels on
and you're eating dust.
It's gone ahead in the cart
your twin
you feel the push and tousle of the trip
without going anywhere.

This is the problem of the twin:
the ancient theory of being born
with your other your alternative
the many universes cut down to two
you and what you are not:
your shadow.

Someone's alive –
perhaps it's your shadow
living with your skin pressed up
against life never really there
the twin following (or leading) always
the other who is living life instead.

You know it. Some mornings
you're hardly there and a plot
or Fate has moved on without you.
Some feel this tenderness of being
more than others.

The ancient Egyptians thought it no
disgrace to live half a life
saw no disappointment of fear
saw no hope in failure
the despair of only seeming success
they accepted the shadow, the twin
the other.

It's all in the seeming.
The trick is to know if it's you
or the other one who is
the shadow. Is it the shade
giving you the hangover
the illness you have never
earned?

Are the poor the shadows
of the rich?
Being rich
             of course

they'd have
more shadows than they need.

The poor hang around
with everything but
their deprivation
flimsy.

The rich want another one
another something
an extra best only quality
other thing
while the poor hope
one day to own
a brown shadow donkey.