The Sleeper Agent

From WTP Vol. VII #6

You have been placed by birth
in a strange country, among strange people,
where you are intended to play a crucial role
though no one yet knows what that will be.
Keep in mind the name you’ve been given
is an alias. Grow up, learn the local language,
learn everything you can, under cover
of the convenient identity provided for you.
There is no guarantee that your mission will succeed.
Mostly you must make connections—some will prove real
and some false—and persevere,
though admittedly you will have little to go on.
Expect many failures and dead ends.
Much later in life you may find clues
to your real identity and your real mission,
or perhaps not. Still, it will have been enough
that you were always there, faithful to the mystery.

E. J. Evans is a poet and musician living in Cazenovia, NY. His poetry has appeared in many literary journals including Poetry East, Confrontation, Rattle, RHINO Poetry, and New Mexico Poetry Review. He is the author of the prose-poem collection Conversations With The Horizon (Box Turtle Press) and the chapbook First Snow Coming (Kattywompus Press).