The smog floats over the
morning sky and she can’t
bring herself to light a cigarette
This place worries her
sometimes because she
has so wholly accepted it
as it is and because she
has woven what it could be
in her dreams.
This place surprises her
endlessly with its beauty,
even familiar places sometimes
entering her vision as though
through new eyes
She fears she will never leave
and she fears she will not stay
All she knows at any given moment
is that she is here
And that is the story
of so many here,
though not all of them
quite so loving,
Souls willing to search
until they are tired,
Souls unwilling to search
and so they are tired,
Souls searching
and finding
and staying.
narinda heng 