WATCHER

standing on the sidewalk, looking up
from the sidewalk across from the hospital
it is a bright day and the windows glare
or are ink black in the shade
I can make out a little child
standing at a window
high above the sidewalk
I wave but he doesn’t notice
the man beside the child does
and waves back
I wonder how long they have been there
watching traffic, the flux of light upon skyscraped vistas
whether they understand the irony of me looking at them
I who just left a room like theirs, child standing
in the window staring at the city, our faces reflected
back at us like fish in an aquarium, mouthing against
the glass, wondering what it is like to breathe the air
out there, the great ocean of air

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