Chinese Tradition

I stood at the side of the dining room table,
Looking on in a covered confusion,
Back and forth
Back and forth
From table to kitchen
And her mind caught
Up in her thoughts,
So that she doesn’t notice me.
I stand out of her way
Because she is too old
To cause her the trouble
Of walking into me
As small as I am,
As short as she is
But I’m growing up too
And I can almost reach her hips,
Then I’d reach her waist
Just now.

But how- it is
That she cooked so much food this evening,
And mummy made me a sandwich for dinner?
With the mixed scents of fried rices and stewed meats,
Couldn’t restrain my curiosity from asking her,
“Granny, Who come’in?”
And I knew in her mind there was something
That she wanted to tell me,
But my mother’s eyes and her’s met,
My mother- disapprovingly
While watching her – “Nobody”
I persisted as only a child would-
“…So who de food for?”
Then my grandmother spoke up from behind a new guilt,
Buried in a silent pause-
“Mamee and Papee”
…and there was nothing more.

A stern eye meant that no more
Questions are to be asked,
So I got out of her way,
And moved so that she could pass.

Then they closed all the windows
Locked the two doors as was custom,
Took the house lights off,
And in confusion I watched them,
The food lay bare on the table,
With tall glass of juice on its right,
One candle in a bowl of water,
“What a strange thing to do” I thought,
“What a very strange night.”

-Arielle John

Copyright 2007