The Back We Will One Day Show
The Backs We Watch
Watching someone’s back
quietly, without calling their name,
makes my heart a little more beautiful,
a little more humble.
The back of a delicate bird
that flies away the moment you speak.
The back of a white butterfly
that dances off before you even think to call it.
The back of a poet
who stays for a long while,
just because the sunset by the sea is beautiful.
The backs of nuns
walking slowly along a corridor,
or sitting in silence, praying.
And then—
one day, before leaving this world,
my mother appeared in my dream,
empty-handed,
walking toward the gate of the convent,
her back turned to me.
At a funeral hall,
the backs of family members
standing again and again
before the portrait of someone they loved.
Why do backs
always look a little sadder than faces?
Why do they make us stare at the horizon,
as if waiting for something we cannot name?
Perhaps it is because,
someday,
we know we will also leave quietly—
imagining in advance
the back we will one day show to this world.
