5.11.2022

"I'm full of doubts" hides "I'm certain about something..."

In a poem, one line may hide another line, 
As at a crossing, one train may hide another train. 
That is, if you are waiting to cross 
The tracks, wait to do it for one moment at 
Least after the first train is gone. And so when you read 
Wait until you have read the next line— 
Then it is safe to go on reading. 
In a family one sister may conceal another, 
So, when you are courting, it's best to have them all in view 
Otherwise in coming to find one you may love another. 
One father or one brother may hide the man, 
If you are a woman, whom you have been waiting to love. 
So always standing in front of something the other 
As words stand in front of objects, feelings, and ideas. 
One wish may hide another. And one person's reputation may hide 
The reputation of another. One dog may conceal another 
On a lawn, so if you escape the first one you're not necessarily safe; 
One lilac may hide another and then a lot of lilacs and on the Appia Antica 
    one tomb 
May hide a number of other tombs. In love, one reproach may hide 
    another, 
One small complaint may hide a great one. 
One injustice may hide another—one colonial may hide another, 
One blaring red uniform another, and another, a whole column. One bath 
    may hide another bath 
As when, after bathing, one walks out into the rain. 
One idea may hide another: Life is simple 
Hide Life is incredibly complex, as in the prose of Gertrude Stein 
One sentence hides another and is another as well. And in the laboratory 
One invention may hide another invention, 
One evening may hide another, one shadow, a nest of shadows. 
One dark red, or one blue, or one purple—this is a painting 
By someone after Matisse. One waits at the tracks until they pass, 
These hidden doubles or, sometimes, likenesses. One identical twin 
May hide the other. And there may be even more in there! The 
    obstetrician 
Gazes at the Valley of the Var. We used to live there, my wife and I, but 
One life hid another life. And now she is gone and I am here. 
A vivacious mother hides a gawky daughter. The daughter hides 
Her own vivacious daughter in turn. They are in 
A railway station and the daughter is holding a bag 
Bigger than her mother's bag and successfully hides it. 
In offering to pick up the daughter's bag one finds oneself confronted by 
    the mother's 
And has to carry that one, too. So one hitchhiker 
May deliberately hide another and one cup of coffee 
Another, too, until one is over-excited. One love may hide another love or 
    the same love 
As when "I love you" suddenly rings false and one discovers 
The better love fingering behind, as when "I'm full of doubts" 
Hides "I'm certain about something and it is that" 
And one dream may hide another as is well known, always, too. In the 
    Garden of Eden 
Adam and Eve may hide the real Adam and Eve. 
Jerusalem may hide another Jerusalem. 
When you come to something, stop to let it pass 
So you can see what else is there. At home, no matter where, 
Internal tracks pose dangers, too: one memory 
Certainly hides another, that being what memory is all about, 
The eternal reverse succession of contemplated entities. Reading A 
    Sentimental Journey look around 
When you have finished, for Tristram Shandy, to see 
If it is standing there, it should be, stronger 
And more profound and theretofore hidden as Santa Maria Maggiore 
May be hidden by similar churches inside Rome. One sidewalk 
May hide another, as when you're asleep there, and 
One song hide another song; a pounding upstairs 
Hide the beating of drums. One friend may hide another, you sit at the 
    foot of a tree 
With one and when you get up to leave there is another 
Whom you'd have preferred to talk to all along. One teacher, 
One doctor, one ecstasy, one illness, one woman, one man 
May hide another. Pause to let the first one pass. 
You think, Now it is safe to cross and you are hit by the next one. It can be 
    important 
To have waited at least a moment to see what was already there. 
 

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