"As I Was Passing

As I was passing near the jail
I met a man, but hurried by.
His face was ghastly, grimly pale.
He had a gun. I wondered why
He had. A gun? I wondered...why,
His face was ghastly! Grimly pale,
I met a man, but hurried by,
As I was passing near the jail."
--J A Lindon in: Howard W Bergerson,
Palindromes and Anagrams (1973)

   "Doppelganger

I.

Entering the lonely house with my wife
  I saw him for the first time
Peering furtively from behind a bush--
    Blackness that moved,
  A shape amid the shadows,
A momentary glimpse of gleaming eyes
  Revealed in the ragged moon.
A closer look (he seemed to turn) might have
Put him to flight forever--
  I dared not
(For reasons that I failed to understand),
  Though I knew I should act at once.

II.

I puzzled over it, hiding alone,
Watching the woman as she neared the gate.
  He came, and I saw him crouching
    Night after night.
    Night after night
  He came, and I saw him crouching,
Watching the woman as she neared the gate.

III.

I puzzled over it, hiding alone--
  Though I knew I should act at once,
For reasons that I failed to understand
 I dared not
  Put him to flight forever.

IV.

A closer look (he seemed to turn) might have
  Revealed in the ragged moon
A momentary glimpse of gleaming eyes,
  A shape amid the shadows,
    Blackness that moved.

V.

Peering furtively from behind a bush,
  I saw him, for the first time,
Entering the lonely house with my wife."
--ibid