their embrace (zoey and samuel)

so, yes, they embraced in the little ones' classroom

surrounded by tiny chairs and desks, chalk

and slate, the paraphernalia of a humble school.

it wasn't meant to be more than a goodbye,

a quick coming together, but the reality

was something else. it felt, and how do i know this,

as a melding, one body becoming one with the other,

the points of contact, three specifically,

were as points of hot iron—searing.

i tell you, they were loath to part, to break

the embrace, but conscience and propriety

are mighty forces, not to be ignored.

perhaps it was the room itself, a classroom

imbued with order and rules demands, or expects,

decorum. they were on the brink of indecorum.

do i betray their confidences? better

to leave their moment unwritten—perhaps.

i seem to know too much of them, and care too much.

i will say this, they suffered hardships

unimaginable to gain this place—this valley,

this town, this newly built church, this school.

if they found something unexpected in the process

then it should be celebrated. for the first time

they were masters of their fate, and it was unfamiliar.

later, when time had passed, when they learned

each others' heart, when they understood

the nature of their affection, they truly became one.

but this was the beginning, and beginnings

are often unscripted, tentative, effected by chance,

though the same can be said for what follows.

"Mother's Tale"

My mother spoke of respect, demanded it

As her mother had demanded it

As her mother had demanded it

And so I am the progeny of respect, as are you

The men implanted them

As your father implanted me

We walked head bowed

With tiny steps, with tiny feet

Behind, always behind

Never seeing the sky or stars

They put us where and how they wanted us

And used us as they would

What could we do

We talked and giggled among ourselves

Made crude jokes at our husbands' expense

That was all we could do

The men built the walls and raised the roofs

That kept us within

One day we rose up and said enough

Our men crumbled like so much dry sand

We understood, they wanted more from us

Than we wanted from them

~

after Confucius' "Wei Wind"