Fear by CHARLES SIMIC

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Fear
Fear passes from man to man
Unknowing,
As one leaf passes its shudder
To another.
All at once the whole tree is trembling,
And there is no sign of the wind. 

Note Slipped under a Door
I saw a high window struck blind
By the late afternoon sunlight.
I saw a towel
With many dark fingerprints
Hanging in the kitchen.
I saw an old apple tree,
A shawl of wind over its shoulders,
Inch its lonely way
Toward the barren hills.
I saw an unmade bed
And felt the cold of its sheets.
I saw a fly soaked in pitch
Of the coming night
Watching me because it couldn't get out.
I saw stones that had come
From a great purple distance
Huddle around the front door.
CHARLES SIMIC
Selected Early Poems
George Braziller