I called you back.
And the nice young woman
who answered the hostel phone
walked from door to door
with the phone at her side
calling your name
asking if anyone knew you
knocking and knocking
and calling you again and again
so that I felt she'd somehow
become me, calling for
the you I'd lost or the you
I didn't really know yet
door after door, knocking
and asking, until
finally somebody asked her
if you were the one
with the long black hair
and she asked me
if you were the one
with the long black hair
and I said yes, although
what I wanted to say was
that you hadn't cut it because
I'd begged you not to
but that now you
likely would.
