Chinese characters printed
	On my palms
	Discovered after raising my hands
	From the grass
	I sit up
	Half-lotus - only half
	Forearms rested on knees my legs drawn in
	Under, palms not faced upward
	Index finger and thumb tips touching lightly, indeliberately
	Mimicking some Chinese character
	Unsuccessfully, possibly unintentionally
	Learning chemistry
	Under dogwood and hazy sky
	For a future seemingly so far away
	As shores across the Pacific
	To the sailor plotting leaving port in San Francisco sometime
	Envisioning the telegram to be received Tuesday read
	"He's arrived" Hallelujah, he's arrived!"
	Post marked in Chinese characters
Copyright 1997 John Feissel. All rights reserved.