CHIA TAO BEGINS A POEM
TO SUB-PREFECT LI K'UO OF HU COUNTY
BY SAYING
I can't help feeling for you–
leaving your office work
only to meet each time
the dying day.
I've spent most of my life
pissing and moaning about
never having any money,
not being known, never
getting any honors, not
getting to travel.
And yet and yet and yet,
for more than forty years
my days have been my own.
It takes a long time for some people
to realize how lucky they are.
David Budbill
budbill@wildblue.net