China (part 2)

- 2 -

In the USA

Where things seem so normal

And nothing is out of the ordinary

To everyone but me.

Oh, you nice quiet subdivisions

Beautiful boutique houses, and manicured lawns

Cars galore, a puppy dog, and all your household needs.

I would rather the people walking, the millions

Underneath the black canopy of the city sky

In their Saturday night best

The chefs, the vendors

The neighborhood strollers

The drunken street fighters

And curious onlookers

And leggy women dressed in Chinese silk.

Oh China, you country of a thousand constellations

Aware of the Confucian order of things

Yet very free, it seems to me:

Singing in the park, dancing in the street

Lovers in each other’s organic embrace

Little children in proud grandparents’ arms.

Sure, there are the ornery folk

The gruff, the grumpy, unruly and uncultured

But that’s okay, because they too belong

They are still countrymen and countrywomen.

You motherland, you five-thousand year reign

Of deep culture and self-respect

Having survived the turbulence of dynasties

Diverse as the Tianshan Mountains are to the Gobi Desert

You manage somehow to hold it together.