What if train announcers were philosophers? (Not sure this poem needs the final stanza.)
Final
Announcement
Please mind the gap between
the train and the platform,
between what moves and changes
and what seems more permanent,
between what you expect and
what is real,
between the rich and the poor,
the tourist and the native,
between what you want and
what you need,
between your desires
and another’s,
between impulse and instinct,
between the guidebook and
the city street,
between memento and memory,
between what it’s taken you
to get here and what your
destination gives you
in return.
And always check to make sure
you’ve left nothing behind
you don’t want to lose
before you depart.
I agree that you don't need the final stanza. I am also not crazy about the last lines, the last one in particular seems a bit clunky. But I like the rest of it a lot.
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