Alberto Ríos: "Who Has Need, I Stand with You"

In this hour, let us grant to each other the grace that is ours to give.
In each other, let us see ourselves, and ourselves again,

That all the times we have looked at our faces in a mirror
Should have added up—each face our own, but a reminder as well

We are more than ourselves, that our eyes can see
Into that silver world as far as, and beyond, what we understand.

Looking into a mirror, into a window pane, into the water of a lake,
A photograph—we are here and over there as well. In that moment

All things are more possible. In this hour of ourselves, you and I,
One stronger than the other, let us speak evenly, and make plain

The hope that all this time has held us. Let us extend ourselves
Beyond ourselves into the silver, ourselves bigger and farther,

Ten thousand bodies to choose from suddenly in that mirror, us
Needing only one, so that things seem again so simple.

"Who Has Need, I Stand with You" by Alberto Ríos. Published online by Orion Magazine, May/June 2010. © Alberto Ríos.

Photography credit: "Train Ride," by Larry Kolvoord, Austin American-Statesman, taken January 18, 2011 (originally color).