Brief Encounter (with apologies to Basho)

An old man sits quietly.

A stranger butts in…

the sound of their laughter.

(two distinct clocks

suddenly agreeing 

on a fictional hour.

a graft of unrelated stems

blossoming magically 

into a single wild bloom)

Two solitudes dissolve

waking into the cosmic joke

of ever having been apart.

A passing dog barks at their commotion:

the absolute laughing back

at its own punchline.