Doppelgänger
by Michael R. Burch

Here the only anguish
is the bedraggled vetch lying strangled in weeds,
the customary sorrows of the wild persimmons,
the whispered complaints of the stately willow trees
disentangling their fine lank hair,

and what is past.

I find you here, one of many things lost,
that, if we do not recover, will undoubtedly vanish forever ...
now only this unfortunate stone,
this pale, disintegrate mass,
this destiny, this unexpected shiver,

this name we share.

Keywords/Tags: doppelganger, namesake, twin, lookalike, grave, tomb, headstone, inscription, weeds, shiver, recognition, destiny, fate

My parents named me Julie,
Have a  famous namesake in history,
Like great Julius Caesar,
Another Julian house afar,
In Roman days, times far,
So, hail, big Julie,
Writing is my living legacy........

Skinny little legs, like the bees
you loved to draw, propelled you
down two flights of old stone stairs.

Banging on your namesake's door,
calling out in a child's Italian:
"Nino, let's go play!"

An enclosed courtyard held us at the center
of modest apartments where our neighbors
hung out laundry, watched us play.

In the early evening light we counted, hid,
and counted again under quiet Roman skies.
It seemed, then, that this was life.

Counting rapidly in that musical language,
searching for a new and better place to hide,
we never imagined that soon, we would
want to hide here, in these memories
that would never leave us.

When an avalanche of tragedy hit us
one year later, we had these soft days
in our father's country to remember.
Hiding, counting,
and hiding again.

I hope as the sun hits my face
The tears burn my skin
I will never be the image you see
I can t walk this path anymore
In the end you will never understand me
I can t keep the hope in my heart with feeling that has been lost deep inside my  soul
My heart breaks with no love
I live for today not for the past
I hold my breath no more
I wear no mask to hide myself
In world full of pain.

A storm took your name
And wrecked havoc as I slept
And thought about you