I Invent You
I invent you in the garden
I invent that you talk to me
that you call me
and in fact you do talk to me
and sometimes I don’t understand
what you say
and I am amazed at you
at your mystery
and I pretend that I understand
so that you won’t go away.
Day after day I invent you
and that’s my way
of confronting your absence
because if I don’t invent you
the joy of my hours
would vanish
and you as well.
by Claribel Alegria
from Sorrow
Curbstone Press, 1999