Lady of the Lake

the wooden fence waits,  
as the red hibiscus flowers bloom


rain water dulling its sheen 
from golden young to grey old  


harsh sun splinters wide-eyed
hollows to deep grooves and lines


weaving days and nights into years,
while waiting for the green light 


or maybe the white star we saw
when we drank rice wine with fish and chips  


or maybe the white peacock we passed
walking hand in hand, east and west entwining  


i wrote and recorded a love poem just for you,    
and wore my country's native dress, the colour you love


as i choose not to cross the border and stay 
where my soft voice is steel and sword 


every morning, i pluck the single red flower  
and tuck it behind my ear


i know you will always be 
waiting for me at the other side of the lake    

Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - Poetics : Borders  hosted by Claudia Schoenfeld.   

My inspiration for this post is the life story  of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi.   

" That 1995 visit was the last time Michael and Suu were ever allowed to see one another. Three years later, he learnt he had terminal cancer. He called Suu to break the bad news and immediately applied for a visa so that he could say goodbye in person. When his application was rejected, he made over 30 more as his strength rapidly dwindled. A number of eminent figures – among them the Pope and President Clinton – wrote letters of appeal, but all in vain. Finally, a military official came to see Suu. Of course she could say goodbye, he said, but to do so she would have to return to Oxford.

The implicit choice that had haunted her throughout those 10 years of marital separation had now become an explicit ultimatum: your country or your family.  More ~ "

picture credit:  here