A poem by Russell Edson

A poem that justifies the existence of people as they are in those moments when they are who they are, and wishing for something else, confront the validity of the notion that this is all there is - to be who we are is to be alone.

One Lonely Afternoon

Since the fern can't go to the sink for a drink, I graciously
submit myself to the task, returning with two glasses of water.
And so we sit, the fern and I, sipping water together. ...

Of course I'm more complex than a fern, full of deep
thoughts as I am. But I lay this aside for the easy company of
an afternoon friendship.
Yet, had I my druthers, I'd be speeding through the sky for
Stockholm, sipping bloody marys with wedges of lime. ...

And so we sit one lonely afternoon sipping water together.
The fern looking out of its fronds, as I look out of mine. ...