Don’t Know About You

The persistence of the pathetic fallacy Even among the learned, or those Who think of themselves in that way, Becomes more curious by the year. After all, Do we really insist on “the continuity of action” When things are always going on and off like lights in a storm? Suppose, for example, that a mild afternoon breeze Rises at dusk into a wind that persists And can be heard (and even seen, in the trees through the window) During a cocktail party later that night, Where it accompanies, without interrupting, The conversations, whose elusive content remains unavailable To even the snoopiest reporter. Does anyone still expect The possibility of an abrupt and precise moment of change, The coincidence of a sudden calm just when someone says to himself, Surprised, “I don’t love her”? Of course not. Imagine that the wind just idles and dies, While the party, naturally enough, shifts into high gear (Why shouldn’t it?); and that someone, raising a hand (to wave?), Says “Stop, come here”; and that starting to obey, You cannot, because of the absolutely fresh clearing That the wind has opened between them.