Darkness and Light Roll
to Ofira, for the inspiration
In the times when darkness and light roll together
I think about all the apartments I’ve been through
narrow rooms in friends’ houses, hotel rooms lightened
tastefully or with great rudeness,
a soft grass bed and leaf dripping forests
where I planted my bedding. Some estranged beds
and others so warm. I think
of all the women who had passed before me
of all the women whose lives I’ve pierced
like the eastern sun and left like the autumn leaves
I remember the spaces I have filled
and I am thinking about the people filling them now
for I have written before
People leave a part of their selves
behind every door they’ve opened
In those hours, the soft hours of the day,
I remember the soft moments of my life
and I think of people I’ve never known and their deeds
in the spaces I once imagined were mine
I think of the people I’ve known and thought were mine
and I cherish the space they have given me.
Guy Traiber is a Chinese medicine practitioner who is grateful for every story he learns from the visitors in his clinic. His cat, Kody, drives him crazy sometimes but he loves him deeply. He rejoices every day in what he has been entrusted with.