Let it be known~
        Beyond the mere musings of tool bearing monkeys
               Lies an ineffable essence which deflects archaic labeling.
                      
This is the direct experience of non-discriminatory equalization
        Of conceived notions.
               All which may be considered good and true
                       Vaporizes in the blinding eye of this clarity.

Language is the battleground of ignorance and illiteracy
        Of what begs not be named~

We're all together,
yet still far apart.
With no end in sight,
we've come a long way from the start.
Tugging on the tenuous strings of our heart
just to find out which are strongest.

I'm fond of every bond we've made.

Hearts are such fragile things;
how easily they break.
Please keep my pieces somewhere safe,
and I'll keep yours held tightly in hand.

I don't care how much they might bleed,
because you'll always understand.
Everything I could ever want and need.
Everything, all the time.
Everything at the speed of light.

I'll keep the pieces close to my heart.
I love you infinitely more now than I did from the start.
With no end in sight;
we're all together tonight.

Regardless of where life may take us,
we'll always be stars.
Reflecting each others' light -
no matter how far.

I extolled them as they went about their
Menial tasks in suits of silk;
Sunday bests amidst the concrete, the earth,
The broken shards of
Bamboo splintered skin, hiding interiors
                          And further, the broken mirrors of
                          The broken memories of the
                          Broken histories upon the
                          Broken backs become names wrought ancient.
Though further from fractured, a family calls,
Beholden to the absolute intent, but one wish –
Eternity amongst the bountiful brethren left behind
Atop tea-brimmed Mountains and a
One malevolent, revered benevolent,
Mao.

One more saga prerequisite this newer dynasty red –
                          Witness the
                          Wives huddled plowshares,
                          The daughter scribbled arithmetic
                          And sons assumed thrones to legacy.

I scrutinize soiled  – smoke amid pear peelings,
The dirtied – unscathed and archaic,
So very fatigued – just one more nail,
For his eternity, with scratch and
Sliver of blood, a sanctity upon chin
                          Beyond cradled hammer,
                          Hand hugging thumb,
                          Thumb beyond nail, iron or the
                          Heart impaled homesick;
But I and hand asserting tie, freshly pressed,
Almost gleaming with an embezzled prestige –
Born unto Arcadia, a puzzle near complete
Continued to run, with only second’s pause to admire,
So very far from the fields of, “father,” or first blink,
While Sunday’s best weep, work and wither.

This man with joint autographed, “end,” and
                          Soon to be mound, history wrought dust,
                          A chipped Henan ceramic
                          And hours in attempt to breach;
                          Behold the back of Chen.

*The title of this piece was inspired by observing constructions workers wearing suits we'd typically wear for an interview. That being said, my venture in China is near an end - years in the making. What's next? Ecuador? Japan? Morocco? Montana? Either way, I could never thank China enough for all that'd become naked before I and my pilgrimage christened, "world."

Do you not feel yourself grow
As you move your eyes from the stars in the sky
To the blades of grass below

Holding strong to your ego
An attempt to escape relativity
Grip to the oneness we know

Do you not feel yourself change
In the sensation of new experience
Becoming one with you, strange

I can feel the movement of that tree as if it were speaking with me. I watch as it stands still with little breeze to see the movement in its bark swirling and swirling up and around speaking of its history. As my life simply is a mere moment, can it even notice me? I stand in awe to watch its branches dance as its leaves seem to reach out to me. How does it see its life in what I see as a perpetual state of tranquility. Can it hear as I say hello, or like a little insect, would I know if were to speak to me, or in their time do the mountains even know of the tree. How simple life is made to be -

It gets across the point if the earth really is alive,
If you were interviewing a butterfly,
Standing on the branch of an oak tree.
Now, a butterfly lives only for a few days
But an oak tree can live for over a thousand years.
If you were to ask the butterfly:
Do you precede the object of which your standing is being alive?
The butterfly would say: of course not. I've been here all my life
It is all five days, and the tree hasn't done a thing
Well, it's the same problem with the human being
If you would ask a person
Perhaps one that's lived for a hundred years
They precede the earth, which is really 5 billion years old, is being alive
They would say: of course not. I've been here my whole life, and it hasn't done a thing.
The earth really is alive.

I feel the space that I can't touch
You are invisibly everywhere
I see the way that you think
But I can't say it's real

I'm letting you go, dear past
you're the ether that scientists thought to carry the light
they discovered you don't really exist (the speed of light is invariant for every observer)

I have things to live, new adventures to imagine
the dream scared to wake up
dear, it's time to take a chance...

'Cause
She won't be there again to write in my cherished books
And I will give her a happy ending and say hello when we meet again
She was so nice but left unexplained and there is nothing to do

And if you by chance knock my door again, ask for a cup of tea
please remember you won't stay after 10 unless you're real

I'm keeping some music preserved, you know
like the stars save a million years that you can travel to
they found a lifetime it's actually enough (time dilates and space contracts)

I have memories to make, friendships to shield
the soul afraid of dying
hey, now learns to live and fly...

'Cause
He won't remember the tears I shed some nights before
Or how he kissed me in the parking lot when we thought nobody watched
They were so sweet, dear, but have never happened at all

We can talk like old friends, forgotten lovers, listen to some songs
please remember you are a treasure but you are gone