THE LOOK

THE LOOK

(Mamihlapinatapai)*

Is it a kind of joy mingled with such/ wistfulness, a feeling of being taken up/ and embraced before goodbye? Who/are you? / ---From “Without Translation” by Luisa A. Igloria, Via Negativa, 09-28-11

You did not say it then, but I saw those unspoken

words in your hands, your eyes, your half-smile

when I bade you goodbye the night we would rather

forget but will always remember as our surest bind. 

You had the children with you; flying off to give me

space, and for the children, and for the best, and…

There is no best, I said, we will know when we need

each other again. Until then, find yourself. I will. 

Did you want to embrace me then but were afraid

I would not give it back? Did you hope I would say:

Stay, do not go. Let us try again. Let me try again.

I did, and that airport parting remains a nightmare. 

When I came back to you, did you want to say:

I forgive you; please forget that past; forgive me,

if you can. But we stood apart between the children

running to hug me. I saw that look, but did not know. 

I have been trying to come home since then. Did you?

--- Albert B. Casuga

09-29-11

Prompt: * Mamihlapinatapai (sometimes spelled mamihlapinatapei) is a word from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego, listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the “most succinct word”, and … one of the hardest words to translate. It refers to “a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will offer something that they both desire but are unwilling to do.”  ---From “Without Translation” by Luisa A. Igloria, Via Negativa, 09-28-11