Colleague

I don’t know you

though I see you

I don’t know you

I notice how

you wear your hair

the way you walk

you look at things

the way you talk

it doesn’t give away

if in the morning

you like to stay

in bed but

come to work

because you must

do you grow

in what you do

I don’t know

strangers in the night

yet more than passers-by

who fear the sight

of what we see

on the daily news

which we talk about

while working

for our needed meal

to keep the fire burning

you and I

I don’t know you

though I see you

I don’t know you

colleague

Joke van der Ark

Nr. 377b – 20 oktober 2001