I’m doing this because I care about you

Beware, you beautiful flower,

evil is drawn to your looks,

your smell,

your life-giving energy;

not everything that comes to you

has good intentions,

cause even amongst the pollinators,

the butterflies and the bees,

there will be thieves,

the flies and the wasps

that will steal your nectar

and eat your petals

all in the name of

“I’m doing this because I care about you.”

Scene #2: Guangdong Province

I wonder what she felt

When she was dragged out

Of the family house

Into the dense jungle behind it

The aching, hot sun above her

 

I wonder if she heard

The rumors before the

Rovers came rolling into the village

 

The odd language

That the translator was using

 

I wonder if she could smell

The fear, confusion and hope

In the sweat rolling

Off her mother’s body

Mixing into the wet soil

 

I wonder if she could see

What happened next

Her neighbor stepping out

Into that hot midday sun

Into merciless gunfire

 

I wonder if she could taste

The screams of her village

The blood and flames in the air

As it was annihilated

And the others could only

Cower and pray in horror

To Buddha or Confucius

Hoping that that the jungle

Would provide itself a friend

From their invaders

 

I wonder what she understood

I wonder what it did to her

I wonder how it affected her

Afterall,

My PoPo was only 6 years old

Scene #1

“Is there anything else,” he said gruffly,

“Anything else that I should know?”

Looking deep into my eyes

Those green eyes I had loved

“Shawn and I,” tearfully I said

“I know,” he said and in that instant

I regretted that this curt, analytical,

Forceful man, was exactly

What I had asked for- what I wanted.