The poetry meme

Just like fourth_rose, I've found it difficult to participate in this meme, because most of the poems that mean something to me are not in English. My relathionship with poetry is shaky in any case: I was well in my twenties when I finally got poetry. (On plus side this means that I've never written any angsty teenage poems.) And to this day, I find it much easier to appreciate a poem in one of my native languages. English poetry just doesn't resonate with me on an emotional level.

That much said, I rather like the clever structure and the dramatic effect it creates of this one:

Doppelganger by James A. Lindon

Entering the lonely house with my wife
I saw him for the first time
Peering furtively from behind a bush --
Blackness that moved,
A shape amid the shadows,
A momentary glimpse of gleaming eyes
Revealed in the ragged moon.
A closer look (he seemed to turn) might have
Put him to flight forever --
I dared not
(For reasons that I failed to understand),
Though I knew I should act at once.

I puzzled over it, hiding alone,
Watching the woman as she neared the gate.
He came, and I saw him crouching
Night after night.
Night after night
He came, and I saw him crouching,
Watching the woman as she neared the gate.

I puzzled over it, hiding alone --
Though I knew I should act at once,
For reasons that I failed to understand
I dared not
Put him to flight forever.

A closer look (he seemed to turn) might have
Revealed in the ragged moon.
A momentary glimpse of gleaming eyes
A shape amid the shadows,
Blackness that moved.

Peering furtively from behind a bush,
I saw him for the first time,
Entering the lonely house with my wife.