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GARY BECK

Gary Beck’s poetry has appeared in dozens of literary magazines. His plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes, and Sophocles have been produced Off-Broadway. He is a writer/director of award-winning social issue video documentaries.

IN ANOTHER LAND, LOST

In the Bahnhof waiting room,

too poor to buy a ticket,

awakened from kindly dreams

by the harsh hands of the police

pulling me off the slumber table,

shoving me out of the darkened restaurant,

mumbling, stumbling, tranced,

into the chill Dusseldorf night,

bowed by sagging shoulders,

dulled almost beyond continuation,

swaying, sniffling, drained of fervor,

only avoiding collapse

with the hope of warm refuge.

I am homeless this night,

my fears the same as others,

the arrival of tomorrows.

Where will we go,

o enemies of the morning?

Shall we meet again?

Perhaps tomorrow night,

heads couched on arms, dirtier,

owning only sad enchantments.

Shall I be the last inventor,

or have I more to surrender?

If I survive the perils of daylight,

I shall stay awake all evening,

blinking greetings at strangers,

rigid with protests and yearnings,

trapped in spittle and droolings,

tobaccoed and tarnished,

once again lifeless lumps

inert upon the tables,

trapped between sleep and death.

Ignored by all except authority

babbling to anyone who listens,

I see another homeless creature

cautiously stir and peer about,

gently shaking his tiny wife awake.

They look at each other.

I see you, stranger

a moment in this bitter life

and ebb away, drifting….Nowhere….

In the Bahnhof waiting room

I have become lost,

waiting for nothing.