Human Chain (Poetry)

Would you, if you had known, have been surprised
to find me here each night abed and reading you? —
Would you have thought our lives would cross —
your words on paper find their way
traverse so many miles, and me believe them true?

How could you guess — why would you dream
someone like me would welcome in
a stranger’s feelings — share and let
the inner human chain connect
interpret all you may, or may not, mean?

Is it so fanciful to think
a book can forge a deathless link —
can somehow bind another —
heart and mind?