With Younger People
I've tried talking about myself, as frankly As I could, allowing for intense Digressions, casual, transparent exaggerations sometimes, A disrespect for sense, Healthy at times, I've thought, or thought they thought, Or else I've tried to question patiently, Feigning knowledge, ignorance, suppressing the snap judgment, Or have matched stubbornly My silence against theirs, as well as burst That bubble pointedly, if what I began To feel was smugness, theirs or mine, and shown humility As well as any can, Or scorn perhaps, though if so always mild, The object of such dragged-out, clumsy scenes Being always to meet, honestly if only briefly, On any ground. No means Quite works of course, or works at all, and I Realise, at last, with elders my interplay
David Galler
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