Surreptitious Conversation

Surreptitious conversation,

full of whispered consternation,

is the sort of talk we most remember –

whatever it may be about, it seems to rout

out doubt and hold it up to keener light and far

more ardent focus than is usual. The warm infusion

of the knowing nods between us beckons pleasure to its

hushed gestalt, savoring the human frailty in the overlooked

essential opportunity some overseer had failed to oversee.

Surreptitiously we’re certain we’ve uncovered something

terribly important – we’ve decoded the enigma, found

the pivot upon which catastrophe has swung. Some

bell that only we have heard has rung. Much

in this dire quietude seems now to hang

in secret balance: one brings what

talents one possesses for diplomacy

and tact to bear upon the rare occasion

of the prospect of persuasion surreptitious

conversation at its best has never lacked. But

probably the great unspoken joy between us

is the lure of the enduring tacit pact which

surreptitious conversation makes

implicitly – the pledge that

each of us will watch

the other’s back.

.