TOKYO VISITOR by Nie Dan

TOKYO VISITOR

by Nie Dan

A skinny waif, hidden under a camel-colored hat,

her grief caught my attention, just as it must have

caught that of the grey swallow. It dashed out of

the earthen fortress wall,

without revealing how she worked her wings.

I couldn’t decide if she was sobbing out of sorrow

or because pain was tugging somewhere on her body.

I stared as I usually do when transfixed, as is my habit,

as her tremors increased

and her moving body turned into a gray cloud,

very real, without a doubt.  Then, I panicked.

A sentinel at this pass of the Great Wall said: Oh!

It’s that old Japanese lady again.

she comes to Yumeng Pass each year,

facing Lop Nur

and cries her heart out.

About the poet:

Nie Dan, born in 1988, works in the General Office of the People's Government of Liangdang County, Longnan City.