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The Great Coincidence

Text of Poem

How strange that in the human flow,
And think of the people we have met,
That out of the many ways to go,
And think of those untraveled yet,
We should, enclosed in time and place
Like two in a dream, come face to face.

I marvel every day that we
With our own hearts escaped the fate
Of those who pass and do not see.
We stopped before it was too late
And tried the distance we could reach
Across the unknown each to each.

It is a wonder that we came
So close that we could learn together
The odds and pleasures of the game
We daily play with time and weather,
That we two joined in one defense
I call the great coincidence.

First Line
How strange that in the human flow,
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1951
Original Citation
Man and His Field. Denver: Allan Swallow. 1951. 53.
Republication
Complete Poems
74
Hearst Collections
Word Count
126
Poetic Form
closed
Themes
Twitter Quote
I marvel every day that we / With our own hearts escaped the fate / Of those who pass and do not see.