We learned about the earth
rolling, with China always
on the other side.
China became my passion,
it sang in my ears
as I hacked an old trowel
into a hill behind the Baptist church.
I thought if I had time
I could dig through to China's musical
alleys crowded with shoppers, spices
filling the air, silk banners
shimmering in the sun,
and me, a dusty blonde kid burrowing
up suddenly from the ground.
My friends left,
so I scraped out mostly alone
my knee-deep hole.
When I gave up,
China retreated across the globe,
but I wasn't sad. To stand on dirt
no one had seen for years
was enough, to see
the houses and yards I knew
raised up was just enough.
-- Jan Hardy
First Published: June 29, 2007, 11:45 p.m.
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