Ode to the Passer-by

Always different, always changing, always the same,
I’ve felt your warmth, I’ve felt your love, I’ve felt your pain.
You are with me everyday, you make me feel human.

You are the parking attendant in Oakland,
The black youth who smiled at me, who talked to me,
Who gave me faith when I needed to believe in life.
You are the Blackpool man I’ll never see again
Who paid for my taxi without telling me
You are the cashier at the supermarket, you laugh when I joke,
You know my name.

You are the boss who showed me who I did not want to be.
You are the vagrant Shoshone who talked about his life
Who showed me his tepee, hidden in the city park.
You are the child eating my every word,
Who was escaping this world to live in my story.
You are the nurse who smiled with compassion
When I woke up in pain in the sterile hospital.

You are the man in the car next to me
Who shaves, waiting for the light to turn green.
You are the Australian student I barely knew.
You said something nice. Later
You threw yourself off the building at Stanford.
You are the Achuar guide in the jungle, who asked about my life in the city.
You are all the people who worked with me, for me, against me.

You are the gang biker in England, you gave me a ride home.
You are the battered cook in Guatemala, you always had a smile for me.
You are the sad zoo keeper in Belize, you opened up, shared your worries.
You are the blind woman in San Francisco, you asked me for courage
And gave me the courage I needed for myself.
You are the Russian soldier in Moscow, you gave me your medal,
Later you were punished for showing you liked me.

You are the passer-by who smiled and gave me warmth
as a child when I needed to feel again. You gave me hope.
You are so beautiful.
You brought me wealth of experiences, of lives you shared with me.
You gave me so much, although you often had so little.
You are the spring of my life.
I love you dearly passer-by.

Patrice Capitant 2006