Appointment

Exactly 20 years from today

I meet myself

Under the clock

In Grand Central Station.

The sunflowers

And anti-government literature

I am carrying

Are how I recognize myself after so many years.

I am an old man now,

A glass of water.

It's rush hour in mid-winter

And I have only minutes to live.

All the lonely ones

In the crowd

Have light

Shining from their eyes.

We signal to one another

Like gang members.

Packages and envelopes change hands.

Silence falls from our pockets like wallets.

I whisper the code word

To myself

And know I can finally

Be trusted.

                                                   -- Panama, January 27, 2005