perfect stranger

who are you
that faces me now?
for what are you asking
that you think somehow
i can offer you yet,
when we’ve only just met?

you look at me
like a long-lost friend.
i must look confused
as i wonder to no end
about the life that lies
behind those searching eyes.

how has your life been shaped
by trust and by fear,
by love, perhaps hate,
from those you held near.
what joy or pain today,
has brought you this way?

though you stand here now,
just in front of me,
between us lies a wall
through which i can see,
though no door can i find
into your world or your mind.

who are you, really,
if not a perfect stranger,
who returns for my love
with a face so familiar
and, seeking forgiveness,
looks back at me in this mirror?

-v