The Doppelganger

A strange dichotomy I find

Of mental disputation,

Each time the Betty in my mind

Meets Betty on the station.

At first, while we say how d’you do

And talk about the weather,

I see them side by side, those two

And match them both together.

“Look there and here!” says eye to heart,

“And there – your fancy hid that!

“Admit your memory took her part!

“You rather overdid that!”

Like snow the first one fades away

And melts into the second:

I lose my head and hear it say:

“She’s sweeter than you reckoned!”

Owen Barfield

“The Doppelganger” was published on 3 July 1947 in the New English Weekly. It is used on the Inklings Weblog by kind permission of the Owen Barfield Literary Estate.