Two Neighbors

Faces of two eternities keep looking at me.
 One is Omar Khayam and the red stuff wherein men forget yesterday and to-morrow and remember only the voices and songs, the stories, newspapers and fights of today.
 One is Louis Cornaro and a slim trick of slow, short meals across slow, short years, letting Death open the door only in slow, short inches.
 I have a neighbor who swears by Omar.
 I have a neighbor who swears by Cornaro.
                                   Both are happy.
 Faces of two eternities keep looking at me.
                                   Let them look.
Two Neighbors

by Carl Sandburg, 1916
