Parallel Lives, by Baruch November

Two Young Girls, by Antoine Wiertz (Belgium). 1847.

Parallel Lives

Eye to socket,
flesh before hollow.
Faces ultimately naked and mute.

On one finely brunette head,
a garland.
On the other
only the faint marks
memory once made.

One might eye the future
as it stands above.

One might see the past
as it rises up
from below.

Both must remember
the blossoms
wilt tomorrow.

Baruch November
​
Baruch November’s collection of poems entitled Dry Nectars of Plenty won BigCityLit’s chapbook contest in 2003. His poems and short fiction have been featured in Lumina, Paterson Literary Review, New Myths, The Forward, and the Jewish Journal. He teaches literature and writing courses at Touro College and lives in Washington Heights, New York.