The Meeting

Freud, in a railway carriage, saw the face
of an old man behind the last glass door:
an ancient, bare-skulled chap, headed his way;
and since the elderly deserve some grace,
he bowed and stepped aside. But then he swore:
“Mein Gott!”
………………….That face he knew, so livid grey!
Oh Thanatos! His own approaching face!
Unknowing, hollow-eyed, he’d bowed before
his image, and beyond it, empty space.